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i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 5 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ! 



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Escape of Dr. Kalley. 



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THE 



EXILES OF MADEIRA. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

PEESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No, 821 Chestnut Street. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas. 

in the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY WILLIAM W. HARDING, PHILADELPHIA. 



1- i^ -h ^; 



Xbe Library 
OF Congress 

WASHINGTON 



PREFACE. 



The work of the gospel in Madeira from 1838 to IboOy nas 
been called *'tlie greatest fact of Modern Missions." Its his- 
tory shows what Romanists can do, and what Bible-readers 
can suffer in the nineteenth century. It proves the mighty 
power of an open Bible, and of faith in the Son of God. 

The author of this little volume acknowledges his indebted- 
ness to several friends and authors, but especially to the Rev. 
A. De Mattos, Pastor of the Portuguese Presbyterian Churches 
in Illinois, to a little volume entitled, *' Facts in Madeira," 
and to the ** Memoirs of the Rev. "W. H. Hewitson." Much 
care has been taken to present a correct narrative. It is part 
of the history of the Presbyterian Church, and therefore may 
very properly form a volume for the Presbyterian Board of 
Publication. We may feel a chord in our hearts touched by 
the term of reproach cast on the Bible-readers of Madeira — 

*' the Calvinists." • 

W. M. B. 
Erie, Pa. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER L 

PAGE 

Madeira— The Purple Island — Its discovery — Colonized by 
Portuguese — Vine introduced — Funchal — The people — Curious 
sights — Cottages — Old fashioned bottles — Ignorance — Jails — 
Famine — A story — What our little book will show — A parable. 9 

CHAPTER 11. 

Dr. Kalley — How he was led to Madeira — What he saw — 
Need of Bibles — Errors in religion — Healing the sick — Mode 
of teaching truth — The Bible by itself — Schools — Vote of 
thanks— Meetings held — The glad tidings 19 

CHAPTER III. 

The Bible readers — New discoveries — Bishop wants to see a 
Bible — False charges — Bible cursed — Readers persecuted — 
Schools stopped — An Edict — A hasty arrest — How property 
was losti — No justice in courts — Flight of the innocent — The 
wood-sawyer — Leaving wealth for Christ's sake — Threats — 
We'll not give up the Bible 28 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mrs. Alves — Enemies saw her light shining — Imprisoned — 
Trial — Noble answer — Severe sentence — Death had no terrors 

— Petition to the queen — Release -Exile. 41 

1- (5) 



6 CONTENTS; 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

The Rev. W. H. Hewitson — Dr. Kalley threatened — Will not 
flee — Modern Inquisition — Old law discovered — Dr. Kalley in 
prison — The gospel in the jail — Crowds coming to hear him — 
A new governor — Hints toward a St. Bartholemew's day — • 
Outrages— At Lisbon Dr. Kalley meets Hewitson — Hewitson's 
youth — Studies — honours — Failure of health — Conversion — 
Read a "living epistle" — Student of theology— His missionary 
spirit — Travels — Call to Madeira — Ordained 47 

CHAPTER VI. 

The young Missionary — Church in the house at Madeira — 
Many inquirers — A communion, "the doors being shut for 
fear" — An Apollos found — The carpenter — A puzzled priest — 
The "Espirito Santo" — Plenty of jails in Romish countries — 
Jeronymo — The Bible a cure for beggary — A poor cripple 
thinking of the resurrection-body — The timid made bold — The 
poor cursed by the priests — Elders chosen — Dark clouds — The 
night-feast — Hewitson sick— Withered flowers — A Bible- 
class — Romish anger — The missionary retires — Home again... 61 

CHAPTER VII. 

Lawless violence — The Rutherfords— A meeting on Sabbath^ 
Letter from Hewitson — Mob about the house — Insults — Pleas 
in vain — No law for " Calvinists" — An assault at night — A 
lady's entreaty — The only refuge — The contrast — A sick lady 
in danger — A cool consul — No protection — Insults to Eng- 
land 76 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Narrow escape op Dr. Kalley — The plan of attack — Choos- 
ing the Sabbath — Vain appeals for protection— Dr. Kalley's 
letters — Bolting the doors — Intent to kill — A marvellous escape 
— Friends found — Violence — Sunday guns — Dr. Kalley carried 
away in a hammock — Almost detected — Safe on a ship — Other 
flights for life— Fiery trials 92 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

The William op Glasgow — Bibles buried — Bible-readers for- 
saking all — Refuge on ship-board — Prayers and hymns — Poor 
Mariasinha— Barbarities — The sails unfurled — Joy and bro- 
therly love — The true religion — Exiles for Trinidad 117 

CHAPTER X. 

A LOOK BACK AT MADEIRA — Why Hot a War with England ? — 
Officers deposed — No trial of the lawless — A decree — A bishop 
in a pet — A wonderful letter , 131 

CHAPTER XL 

Arsenic Nicos Da Silva — Two brothers — The priest and the 
merchant — Arsenio's daughter — Disease — Dr. Kalley called — 
Gospel taught — Da Silva learns the way of life — Is persecuted 
— His son-in-law is a judge — Da Silva's flight ., 136 

CHAPTER XII. 

Mr. Hewitson in Trinidad — Visits Madeira on the way — The 
exiles in Trinidad — How support themselves — Much suffering 
— Their spiritual condition — New arrivals — Da Silva becomes 
pastor — Holding up both hands — Pilgrims and strangers — Mr. 
Gonsalves visits them — Call from America 151 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Shepherd dying on the shore — Da Silva 's health fails- 
Comes to New York — His last hours — Burial — Letter to his 
wife 166 

CHAPTER XIV. 

An OUTLOOK over the sea — Scattered exiles — No home found 
— St. Kitts — Essequibo — Plan to come to America 174 

CHAPTER XV. 

A FAREWELL TO THE IsLES — The finger of God — Arrivals — Letter 
from Dr. Kalley — Partings — Welcome in the West — An old 
woman—A happy death — A noble lady — Young ladies — The 
exiles' testimony , 182 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVL 

PAGE 

Two HOUSEHOLD BANDS — The Vieira family — The Vasconcolhis. 193 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A PASTOR FOR THE FLOCK — Hewitson's last hibours and death — 
Rev. A. De Mattos — Conclusion 208 



THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 



CHAPTER I 



THE PURPLE ISLAND. 

** The people that sat in darkness saw a great light.' 

Out of the ocean rises Madeira. It looms up 
before the voyager, rocky, brown, red, and purple, 
with tinges of green from the forests and vineyards, 
and tints of snow far up toward the blue sky. It 
appears like one vast rock, grand and imposing, in 
the distance. Coming nearer, under the mountain's 
frown, the traveller finds that the coasts are set with 
lofty cliffs, many of them more than a thousand 
feet high. Above these rise the sharp pinnacles, 
and jagged towers, shading the groves of heath and 
broom. Coasting around, he sees, in the little nooks 
where the cliffs are broken, small villages with white 
walls, and the little Roman Catholic chapels up at 
the head of the gorge. There are the homes of the 
villagers, as snug and as quiet as the nests of doves 
in the silent grove. 

This is Madeira — Isle of Woods — or Isle of red 
soil — or Isle of the colouring purple. It is not far 

9 



10 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

from Morocco, and is six hundred miles from Spain, 
the nearest civilized country. It is sixty miles 
long, by twenty wide, though in some parts it is not 
over five miles from one coast to the other. Around 
it lie several smaller islands. Before the Christian 
era there was some knowledge of this group, and a 
scheme was proposed to make money there by col- 
lecting a beautiful purple dye. They were then 
called the Purple Islands. 

About four hundred years ago, Gonsalves Zarco 
was making a voyage for discovery along the 
western coast of Africa. He was overtaken by a 
violent storm, and all his crew expected to sink in 
the deeps. They gave up all hope, when suddenly 
an island appeared, and they made for its shores. 
After landing they called it Porto Santo, or " Holy 
Haven." Here a settlement of Portuguese was 
formed. But the people were afraid to go to the 
larger Island of Madeira. Some of them would 
venture near it, but it looked so gloomy, and they 
heard such strange sounds coming from its woods, 
that they imagined it was the abode of awful giants 
and terrific creatures — a land of darkness. 

Gonsalves, however, ventured to pay a visit to 
the awful island. The men on his vessel became 
alarmed as they came nearer the shores, and thought 
they saw monstrous giants on the coast. They 
begged their commander not to expose them to 
death. He kept on, until he proved to them that 
their giants were only craggy rocks, and the horrid 



THE PURPLE ISLAND. 11 

voices they heard were only the beatings of the 
waves against the cliffs. He landed at a place 
which he named the ''Wolfs Den." The shores 
were thick with tangled trees and vines. He 
thought that men might live on an island where so 
much wood was growing. 

A colony from Portugal settled on the island. 
They cleared the land by setting fire to the forests, 
and thus they robbed it of its natural beauty. It 
is said that these fires kept burning for seven years, 
and left scarcely a tree on the island. This was 
wrong, but not so wicked as the fires of persecution 
kindled four hundred years afterward, to drive away 
the Bible-readers. 

A few slips of the grape-vine were brought from 
the Isle of Cyprus and planted in Madeira. They 
grew, and from them have grown the celebrated 
vineyards of the Isle of Wines. The wealth of 
Madeira is chiefly derived from its vineyards. 

The traveller, making port on the south side of 
the island, sees the Loo-Rock, grand and majestic 
like a king on his throne, and the white pebbly 
beach lies at his feet like the king's robe spread 
on the floor. On this beach is the chief city, 
Funchal. It looks white and brilliant, house above 
house, and street above street, climbing up the 
mountain side ; and outside the city, still on higher 
terraces, are the cottages and '' quintas" or coun- 
try residences. Yet higher up is the church of 
^'Our Lady of the Mount." One would suppose 



12 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

that if the " Lady" were very kind, she would have 
given a hint to put her church lower down the hill, 
so that some body might get to the door with a 
little breath left in the lungs. It must be hard 
penance to go up there to worship. 

Were you to land at this harbour, you would be 
met by many persons, all bowing to you, and some 
of them begging of you. Off would go their tunnel- 
shaped hats, and before you some poor cripple would 
thrust himself, some boy with one arm, some woman 
with a pale, soiled baby, or some black-eyed little 
girl hoping for an alms. 

You would think the streets were all narrowed 
down to lanes and alleys. If you wished to ride, 
no fine horses and carriages would stand waiting, 
but you would take a summer sleigh-ride. " Two 
pleasant chubby little oxen" are harnessed to a thick 
plank with low runners to it, and away they go 
grating along over the pebbles with which the streets 
are paved. It would be very much like riding on 
one of the ^'scrapers" which we see used in making 
turnpikes. 

Palanquins are used to carry persons from one 
place to another. Some of the wealthy class have 
very fine sledges and palanquins cushioned and 
covered with silk. A pony would be your best 
vehicle if you were going up the mountains. Those 
who wish to go up hill for eighteen miles may stand 
by the Great Curral, or what seems to have been 
an enormous crater. The visitor looks down six 



THE PURPLE ISLAND. 



13 



thousand feet, toward the earth's centre, and even 
there sees the little houses and the chapel of some 
village which is two thousand feet above the sea. 

In the city there are many fine houses, but there 
are more one story cottages with stone walls, stone 
floors, stone seats, thatched roofs, and generally a 
good coat of whitewash on the outside. 

The stranger who never saw any old fashioned 
bottles is amused to see the sheep-skins filled with 
w*ine, and carried on the shoulders of peasants to 




the market. Of course they know better than to 
put '' new wine into old bottles.'* It might not be 



14 



THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 



very pleasing to a wine -bibber to look on tbe men 
in their bare feet treading the grapes in the press, 
especially in a warm, sweating day. 




For many centuries there was deep mental dark- 
ness on the minds of the people thicker than that 
which alarmed the crew of Gonsalves. The Roman 
Catholic religion did not make them intelligent. 
They went to the little chapels, and heard mass, or 
made confession, and thought these would take 
them to heaven. Few of them could read, and 
those who could read knew nothing of the true 
Bible. Still fewer could write. This shows tha,t 



THE PURPLE ISLAND. 15 

the Bible-readers of modern times were among the 
most intelligent classes. 

There were plenty of jails where there were no 
school-houses. Persons who had committed smaller 
crimes were put in jail, to wait until their cases could 
be tried in Lisbon. This kept them in prison many 
years. Their expenses were to be paid by those 
who complained against them. Hence accusers 
became rare, for they did not like to pay for their 
own accusations. This was not done however with 
the Bible-readers, for they had to pay for their own 
support in prison. There were plenty of accusers 
when the word of God began to be read by the 
more honest people. 

A few years ago the vineyards began to fail. The 
traveller could no longer pass along under the 
shadow of the vines, and have rich clusters of grapes 
hanging over his path. The fruit was cut off. It 
brought a famine on the island. The Romanists 
laid all this to the Bible-readers ! They said it was 
a curse on the people for allowing such men as Dr. 
Kalley and Mr. Hewitson to come among them and 
establish schools, read the word of God, and have 
meetings for prayer and praise. 

The Christians of the United States took a deep 
interest in the famishing people of Madeira. They 
sent them the ''finest of the wheat," and induced 
them to cultivate such eatables as we raise in our 
fields and gardens. And notice, the poor exiles 
sent liberally of their ''good things" to the very 



16 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

persecutors who had driven them from home. This 
was returning good for evil. 

The famine made many people poor. The women 
of the island, who have always done most of the 
labour, began to turn their skill to good account. 
They made fancy articles of a very superior quality, 
such as laces, edgings, paper-cutters, card-cases, 
work-boxes, and writing-desks. They took the 
dark Til-wood of the old wine-presses, and made 
beautiful articles for foreign parlours. 

A little romantic story may point the close of 
this chapter : 

Some years ago, a peasant girl was accustomed 
to come down the mountain, barefooted but light- 
hearted, with a bundle of small wood, which she 
sold in the town. Her pleasant face and honest 
manner attracted the notice of a wealthy gentleman, 
who gave her a home in his house. She became 
the lady of the mansion, the wife of her protector. 
After his death, she became the wife of a young 
lawyer of rising fame and excellent talents. He 
rose to be the governor of the island, and she filled her 
high position with elegance and courtly grace. The 
most polite people admired her and thought that she 
could not be excelled. No doubt this may seem 
quite strange. 

But our little book will show something far more 
strange. It is this : The Lord can take a poor, 
ignorant peasant and make him a child of God. 
He did it in Madeira. He can take a crippled 



THE PURPLE ISLAND. IT 

beggar and make him a bright ornament in his 
kingdom, and a labourer in his vineyard. He did it 
•with poor Jeronymo. He can take a rich lady and 
make her willing to suffer in the meanest prisons, 
and cause her to leave a home of luxury, to be very 
happy in a little narrow room on a foreign island 
where she had not as much to eat as the bare-footed 
peasant girl on the cold mountain. He did it with 
Mrs. Vieira and Mrs. Alves. We have interwoven 
many brief histories which show how much true 
Christians can endure gladly for Christ's sake, and 
how happy the Lord can make his suffering children. 
When they enter the glorious mansions of eternal 
rest, it will be said of them, '' These are they which 
came out of great tribulation.'' 

The Lord had a vineyard on beautiful Madeira. 
On it shined the " Sun of righteousness." On it 
fell the showers of grace and the gentle dews of 
Hermon. The vines grew full of goodly clusters. 
The frosts came and ripened them. The persecu- 
tors trod the grapes in the wine-press of suffering, 
and the rich wine of love and patience was wrung 
out of pious hearts. Enemies began to pull up the 
Lord's vines, so that they might never bear any 
more fruit. They tore them up rudely, threw them 
into the desert, and cast them into the seas. But 
the Master took the torn vines and transplanted 
them in another large and rich vineyard. Some of 
them he planted in heaven. The grapes of Eshcol 
were not richer than the goodly clusters which these 
2* 



18 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

vines bore for their Lord. He was saying to them 
when they were broken and bleeding, " Herein is 
my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." 

Our little book will tell the meaning of this 
parable. It will not tell of such bloody scenes as 
are written in the history of the Waldenses or the 
Huguenots, or the Hollanders, or the martyrs of 
Smithfield, and the Tolbooth of Scotland. It will 
not tell of the wheel, the stake, the theatre of wild 
beasts, nor the trap-door of the Inquisition. It is 
not such a record of murders as Fox's Book of 
Martyrs. But it shows that the "man of sin" is 
just the same that he was in the olden days when 
Home put to death thousands of Christians in ways 
too horrible to be described ; and that now, in this 
time of light and mercy, he is as cruel toward Bible- 
readers and praying believers as he dares to be. 
There was cruelty enough, and blood enough shed, 
to entitle Madeira to the old name of the Purple 
Island. 



FIRST GOSPEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 19 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST GOSPEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 

Robert R. Kalley was a young physician in 
Scotland. He felt it his duty to go as a missionary to 
China, and was ordained by the Free Church to 
preach the gospel. In 1838 he and his wife left 
their home to go to China. 

On the voyage Mrs. Kalley was smitten with dis- 
ease. Her friends thought she could not live to 
reach China. There was no vessel to carry them 
back to Scotland, and so they turned aside to visit 
Madeira. There were then many English residents 
on the island. There was a Scottish church in the 
chief city. 

Dr. Kalley thought, that while hindered from 
labouring in one field, he should do all that he could 
in another, just as the Apostle did, when prevented 
from going to Italy. He knew not a word of the 
Portuguese language. In a few hours after he 
landed he began his task in the most practical way. 
He rushed out of his dark room, entered a store and 
asked for a candle. No one understood him. He 
pointed to a candle, and asked the Portuguese name 



20 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

for it. He learned what to say when he wanted a 
candle. In this way he learned word after word. 
No doubt he learned much from the English residents 
who spoke the language. Probably too he had other 
teachers. 

He looked about on the people and pitied their 
ignorance and blindness, just as Paul did in Athens. 
For centuries they had been denied the use of the 
Bible. The Romish priests may have had a few 
Bibles, but they would not let the people have them. 
It was a sin for any one to search the Scriptures for 
himself. Many of the islanders had never seen a 
Bible, nor known there was such a book. 

Dr. Kalley says — '^I met with few of them who 
had ever seen a Bible, or seemed to know that the 
New Testament was written by men who went about 
with the Lord Jesus, when he dwelt on the earth — 
who saw his miracles, heard his words, gazed upon 
him as he went up to heaven, and described what 
they knew by the testimony of their own senses. 
When one part of it was shown to them as the work 
of Peter, another as that of John, and a third as 
that of Matthew, some doubted and wanted proofs, 
others listened with eager interest, while a portion 
of it was read to them as a specimen of its con- 
tents.' ' 

None of them had in their possession a copy of 
the Scriptures. A long time since a translation had 
been made of the Bible into the Portuguese by 
Antonio Pereira, a Romish priest. This had been 



FIBST GOSPEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 21 

sanctioned by the Queen and the Patriarch of Por- 
tugal. Eighty volumes of these are said to have 
been sent to Madeira free of duty for the use of the 
priests and a few government schools that were 
formed on the island. 

The people were Roman Catholics. They believed 
in the Pope, and they worshipped the Virgin Mary. 
Mary, whom we believe to be a saint in heaven, 
would have been better pleased, if they had read the 
words of Jesus, and prayed in his name, as he taught 
us all to do. They had images in their houses and 
churches. They gave money to priests for masses, 
and for saying prayers to release their friends from 
purgatory. There is no such place as purgatory, 
but they supposed there was. They confessed their 
sins to the priests, and bought their pardons with 
money. They sometimes went about with a staiBF 
which had a little image of a pigeon on the top of 
it, and a red cloth tied to it, asking men to worship 
it, as the Holy Ghost ! If men would not bow to 
the little image of Christ on the cross, they were 
regarded as daring infidels. 

Dr. Kalley did not attack the errors of Romanism 
at first, by trying to show the people how foolish 
and useless many of their services and doctrines 
were. He took the better plan. He tried to get 
the people to read the word of God. Many of 
them heard of the wonderful book, and were anxious 
to see it. Many of them could say as Luther did, " Oh 
that God would give me such a book for myself !" 



22 THE EXILES OF MADEIHA. 

Our Lord not only taught those who came to hear 
his words, but also healed the sick, the lame, the 
blind. Dr. Kalley resolved to do the same as far 
as he could. He early prepared a large hospital, 
and offered to give medicine to all who would come. 
It was as well furnished with comforts for the poor 
and the infirm as his means would allow. He had 
his office in which he examined his patients, and 
another room for his medicines in the same building. 
All who came for medical advice were required to 
be at the hospital by nine o'clock in the morning, 
or he could not attend to them on that day. Often 
there were fifty or more persons at that hour wait- 
ing for Dr. Kalley. When he entered the hospital 
they were assembled together. His first business 
was to read a chapter in the Bible and then explain 
it to them. Thus he began his daily work by call- 
ing their attention to the word of God. After this 
he distributed tickets among them. These tickets 
were simply numbered one, two, three, &c. up to 
the number of applicants. He then went into his 
office, and each one came as his number was called. 
When he had ascertained the disease of the patient, 
he wrote his prescription, and it was taken to the 
drug department, and the medicine w^as obtained. 

He became known as an excellent physician, and 
was often called to visit the sick at their homes. 
He, in his kind manner, sought to do more than 
heal the body. He examined the patient, and then 
said that he could not give health ; God alone could 



FIRST GOSPEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 23 

raise up tlie sick. Often did he kneel by the bed-side 
and ask God to make him wise in giving the proper 
remedy, and make it the means of restoring health. 

When he had given the medicine, he would take 
the patient by the hand and say, " Now you must 
pray to the Lord Jesus Christ ; he is the great 
Physician, and can heal the sick.'' He then had 
an opportunity of telling of the wondrous works of 
the Saviour. Sometimes he would say to the sick, 
" You have another disease of which I have not 
spoken, and it is a very bad disease." 

" What is it, doctor ?" the sick would anxiously 
inquire. 

'• It is a very fatal disease, and if not cured it 
will ruin you. But bad as it is, there is a remedy 
for it." 

'^ But what is it, doctor ?" 

'' I will tell you. It is not a disease of the body, 
but of the soul. It is sin. We are all sinners, and 
our sins must be pardoned, or our souls must perish 
for ever. I have a book with me called The Bihle^ 
that will teach you how Jesus Christ came into this 
world, and shed his blood and died, that sinners 
might be saved." 

This strange news often led the sick to wish for 
the wonderful book, and to be anxious to learn 
more of the Saviour. The Bible was often read in 
the sick room, and one person would tell another the 
glad tidings. 

Dr. Kalley left the Bible to tell its own truths as 



24 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

much as possible. Surely none could reasonably 
object to this. When any persons came to him with 
passages they could not understand, he showed 
them other verses in the Bible, which would ex- 
plain the meaning. He wanted the word of God to 
do the work. He thus taught them how to prove 
the newly learned doctrines by the Scriptures. 
Some of the Bible-readers went to the priests, but 
could get no light, and were rudely told to burn or 
throw away the book. The readers often knew more 
than the priests. 

A school was soon established. The Bible was 
the first book in which the people were taught to 
read English. They learned very rapidly, so 
anxious were they to know what was in the " good 
book." Portuguese Bibles were distributed. One 
of the visitors of the school said : " It is, I believe, 
no exaggeration to say, that hundreds of the people^ 
who before were almost as ignorant as the beasts 
they drove, are now intelligent readers of the 
Bible." 

Other schools were established on the island, at 
different points, not for religious instructions alone, 
but for teaching the common branches of learning. 
He paid the teachers from his own purse, and 
furnished books for the scholars. In some of these 
schools the teachers were Romanists, and the only 
books were a small Bomish primer, and a New 
Testament translated by a Romish priest. Surely 



FIRST r-^:PEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 25 

there ought not to have been any objections to this, 
by the Romanists. 

It often happens that what costs nothing is worth 
nothing, but the people did not think so in this case. 
The schools became very popular. They prospered 
beyond the expectations of their founder. Eight 
hundred men and women were soon attending these 
schools, and, how many children w^ere with them, 
we cannot tell. The private houses of some of the 
people were turned into school-rooms, and filled 
with scholars. Never had there been so much study, 
so much improvement in mind and morals, nor so 
much happiness in Madeira. 

The people were amazed at the benevolence of 
Dr. Kalley. He gained their hearts. The children 
called him '' the good man." They were learning 
to sing for joy. He saw the harvest growing ripe. 
The chief men in Funchal saw what a great work 
was set on foot. They passed a vote of thanks to 
Dr. Kalley for his acts of benevolence in establish- 
ing a hospital for the poor and the sick, and schools 
for the ignorant people. 

It should be noted that the adult schools were 
generally held in the evening. The number who 
were thus taught to read the Bible, for themselves, 
w^as over one thousand ; and as many as twenty-five 
hundred adults had sought to grow wiser and better 
by attending these evening schools. 

Meetings were held as early as 1842, in difi*erent 
places. Hundreds came to hear the word of God. 
3 



26 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

When Dr. Kalley could not preach to them, some 
one stood up, like Ezra in old times, and read the 
'' Book of the Law." Ezra read almost half a day, 
and still the people were not wearied. Nor were 
these islanders tired of long readings and long 
sermons. They were hungry for the word. If one 
had preached, as Paul did, till midnight, they would 
have listened gladly, and I much doubt whether any 
Eutychus would have gone to sleep and fallen out 
of a window. The word was "sweeter than honey 
and the honey-comb." 

Many walked ten or twelve hours to attend a 
meeting. They climbed over mountains 3000 feet 
high. And while they stood and heard of Christ 
and his great love, they looked at the reader or the 
preacher with solemn wonder, or raised the hand to 
brush away the starting tear. Never had they 
heard these glad tidings from their priests, and 
perhaps the "Padre' who had hailed and threatened 
them as they passed by the chapel of '• Our Lady 
of the Mount," knew very little of the gospel him- 
self. 

For several months there were not fewer than 
one thousand persons attending these meetings in 
the open air, every Sabbath. Often there were two 
or three thousand, and once they were reckoned at 
five thousand. Many of these meetings were held 
on the mountain side, like that on which the Saviour 
sat, and uttered the great blessings of the sermon on 
the mount. A few hymns were sung to such good 



FIRST GOSPEL LABOURS IN MADEIRA. 27 

old tunes as the Portuguese Hymn, and Old Hun- 
dred. Few were there who did not ''join in the song 
and love the praise/' 

The people began to talk about the "glad news'' 
while walking along the roads or resting in the fields. 
Under many a vine a little group was gathered to 
read or hear the story of the Cross. In many a 
vineyard songs were sung, such as never before 
echoed from Madeira's rugged cliffs. 

Very little seed fell by the way-side, to be picked 
up by the fowls of the air ; very little fell among 
thorns, to be choked and destroyed ; very little in 
stony places, to grow only for a few days ; almost 
all the good seed fell in good ground, and was bring- 
ing forth fruit an hundred fold. 



28 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA, 



CHAPTER III. 

THE BIBLE READERS. 

People who love to hear the truth will always 
want to read it. This was true of those islanders 
who walked so many miles, and climbed such high 
mountains, to hear the Bible read. This holy book 
was offered them and they gladly took it, and began 
to read it as the noble Bereans. Protestants always 
urge every man, woman, and child to '' search the 
Scriptures,'' as the Saviour told us to do. 

Some of these islanders read the Bible for several 
days, and did not think how it condemned popery. 
They perhaps thought they would soon find some- 
thing about mass, penance, purgatory, and priestly 
confession, but they could find nothing of the kind. 
They could see how useless and foolish such doctrines 
were. They could see that Jesus Christ died for 
sinners — "once for all" — and hence there was no 
need of mass. They read the words, '' Confess your 
faults one to another ;" and then thought thus, 
''Now if that means that we should confess to the 
priest, he also should confess to us ; and therefore 
it does not mean either." 



THE BIBLE READERS. 29 

More than one thousand persons were reading the 
Bible. They carried it home. They talked to 
their neighbours about it. They found out how 
they had been cheated, and how falsely they had 
been taught. But they learned to love their ene- 
mies. They did not abuse nor injure the priests. 
They did not go and break down altars nor burn 
churches. They prayed that God would convert all 
the people. 

The Romanists at first pretended that they were 
very willing for the people to have the Bible. 
yes ! all they wish is to keep them from having un- 
sound and altered Bibles ! Thus they pretended 
at Madeira. In 1840 the Bishop said that he would 
be glad to see a copy of the Bible which the people 
were so eagerly reading. One was soon sent to him. 
He put it into the hands of some examiners. They 
searched it. Two years after, they reported that 
there was scarcely a chapter or verse, but had been 
changed and corrupted. This was without a shadow 
of truth. Dr. Kalley had the copies he circulated, 
very carefully compared with the version which the 
Romanists pretended to sanction, and the result 
proved that the Bishop had only condemned him- 
self. Certified comparisons were posted up in the 
streets, that people might see how unjust the Bishop 
was. A royal mandate arrived from Lisbon giving 
full sanction to the very edition which Dr. K. was 
circulating. This ought to have made the Bishop 
3* 



so THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

careful lest he " be found fighting against God.'* 
But it did not. He raged. 

The Bishop pronounced a curse on the Bible, and 
on all who should read it. The teachers under Dr. 
Kalley were warned ''not to teach any living being !" 
If they did, they should be arrested ; and after such 
an arrest there was little chance of liberty or life. 

In 1843, a severe persecution began against all 
the Bible-readers. If the people should read it, 
they would be certain to renounce popery. The 
Priests called it ''a book from hell !" Its readers 
knew it was a book from heaven. How it pained 
their hearts to hear it proclaimed that " the Bible 
should be burned !" One spring day two converts 
came to the Presbyterian church in Funchal, and 
sat down at the Lord's table. This was only re- 
nouncing Romanism. It required boldness to do it. 
The Bishop heard of it and cursed them, I suppose, 
"by bell, book, and candle." Nor were these idle 
threats. Persons were forbid to even touch 
them. " Let none give them fire, water, bread, or 
anything that may be necessary to them for their 
support. Let none pay them their debts.'' No 
Bible-readers would ever be so cruel as this ! 

One officer went to a school, which the English 
people supported by their charities, and took away 
thirty Bibles, with all the Testaments he could find. 
A judge went, with some officers, to the jail, and 
searched the boxes of the prisoners for Bibles. 
They took away every one they could lay hands on, 



THE BIBLE READERS. 31 

and probably burned tbem. But these readers 
were ready to say, " We'll not give up the Bible." 
They were cast into the worst prisons with the most 
wicked men, who annoyed them day and night by 
singing the vilest songs, while they were not allowed 
to sing a hymn of praise to God. One of the jails 
was near the cathedral, and the Romanists in pass- 
ing by the Bible-readers, would spit in their faces, 
while these converts would show a christian spirit 
by praying for their enemies. On one prison door 
was written, "• No reading and no singing of the 
Bible here I" 

Of course the schools must be stopped ! The 
church of Rome had, certainly, a good chance in 
Madeira to show whether she was the friend of ed- 
ucation. And she did show her regard for the best 
schools ever sustained on the island, by aiming a 
heavy blow at all the teachers. It is not often that 
public documents make popular reading, but here 
is a gem which must not be lost. It shows Rome's 
friendship for education. It is an order sent to the 
overseers in every parish : 

" Sir : — On the receipt of this, you will summon 
to your presence, the teachers male and female of 
all the schools established and supported by Dr. 
Kalley, existing in your parish ; and in the presence 
of two witnesses, charge them henceforth not to teach 
any living being, * If, after being duly notified, any 

** ■^- Compare Acts iv. 16-18 ; where the rulers of the Jews attempted 
to silence the Apostles : What shall we do to these men ? for that 



32 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

of them should continue to teach, you can immedi- 
ately send them to this administration in charge of 
two officers of police. You will cause this order to 
be faithfully executed, and report the result by 
Monday next, giving the names of all who have 
been notified. God save you." [Signed.) 

In several personal sketches we will show how 
these teachers were treated. One case we now 
cite. An intelligent man, after sufiering many evils 
from the priests, taught an evening school in a part 
of the island. Not one word had he said to injure 
the government. He was teaching the people how 
to be well governed. They were improving in 
morals and industry. But the school must be 
stopped. Whether the above order was read to him 
or not, is not known. But there was an unjust way 
to take him, when there was a wicked will. 

*' One night, during the hours of instruction, a 
party of men, led by the Church beadle, came to 
the school with a fictitious w^arrant, for the appre- 
hension of the teacher. But as it was not issued by 
a legal authority, and it was brought moreover at 
an illegal hour, the teacher most properly refused 

indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all 
them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it 
spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, 
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they 
called them, and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in 
the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto 
them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things 
which we have seen and heard." 



THE BIBLE READERS. 33 

to obey it. His scholars took part with liim. Many 
of their relations and friends collected ; and the 
bearers of the illegal warrant were obliged to with- 
draw without the teacher, but also, it must be added, 
without having been subjected to the slightest 
violence. 

'^ The conduct of the scholars was represented as 
' sedition and resistance of justice,' and the public 
prosecutor denounced them as Miguelites,* led on by 
Dr. Kalley ! On that day week the judge and 
public prosecutor, with a notary, and about sixty 
soldiers proceeded at night to the Lombo das Fayas. 
The houses of the scholars, chiefly Bible-readers, 
were broken open — thirty men and women were 
taken prisoners — most of them were bound — many 
of them were beaten, and some of them very severely 
— and their houses were given up to be sacked by 
the soldiers, who committed the most horrible atro- 
cities.'' 

They were put in prison, denied the liberty to 
read the word of God, and driven to mass at the 
point of the bayonet. For nearly two years they 
lay pining in the jail, supported only by kind English 
friends who learned their starving condition and 
visited them. Had it not been for the English 
residents many deaths would have occurred by star- 
vation in the prisons. 

After these converts were cursed by the Bishops or 
priests, no one dared to do any business with them. 

* Followers of Don Miguel the usurper and tyrant. 



34 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Thus they lost their property. No one dared to 
buy it. If two men were in partnership and one 
became a Bible-reader the other could have all the 
property. Two poor men were partners in sawing 
wood. The one who owned tw^o-thirds of the 
machinery became a Christian, but the other con- 
tinued to worship images and pictures like a devoted 
papist. The first tried to sell out to the other, but 
as he was "cursed," he could not induce him to 
buy. He then proposed that both should sell out 
and divide the profits, but this plan would not do. 
He then appealed to a judge, and when the judge 
learned that one was a convert, he gave the other 
all the property, and made the innocent loser pay 
all the costs ! 

No Bible-reader could obtain justice from any 
court in Madeira. No one could forsake the Bomish 
church, or keep away from mass and confession, 
without losing his property. If the converts had any 
relatives who were Romanists, the latter could take 
their houses and lands; if there were no relatives, 
the priests and the government divided the confis- 
cated wealth among themselves. A few exiles, 
before leaving the island, sold their property for 
almost nothing, but even this was against the curse 
of the priest, who decreed that it was wrong to touch 
or talk with a Bible-reader. The lepers of old were 
not more carefully to be shunned. This was a high 
compliment to the power of the Bible and the in- 



THE BIBLE READERS. 35 

fluence of Its readers. Before them Romanism could 
not stand long. 

Another very rich man became poor for the sake 
of his Lord and Master. He would not allow his 
Bible to be taken away. He and his family fled for 
their lives. They escaped to the mountains, among 
the vineyards, and hid among the vines. The 
priests and soldiers could not find them, to put 
them in prison. Around his large house in the 
city w^ere vines, plants, and flowers. It was a 
beautiful home. To give up all this and be hunted 
like a wild beast, where he could have no bed but 
the hard soil and no shelter but grape leaves, was 
surely a great trial. Yet he was not left unhappy 
by his Lord. If we should be tried thus, we should 
learn whether we have any faith or not. They at 
last found refuge in a vessel bound for Trinidad. 

One man was thrice in prison, and even saw his 
wife put into a horrid dungeon. He would not 
yield. Then severer measures were used. He was 
beaten with rods, until he could not move for several 
days. But he was firm. He told them, " they 
might scourge him until he was dead; he could die, 
but he could not give up the Bible.'' He became 
an Elder in the church, and came to this country 
with the exiles. 

The wealthiest land-owner on the island was J. 
F. Lomelino. He was the oldest son in his father's 
house, and inherited a large estate. According to 
the laws of the island his property could not be 



36 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

taken from him, and yet he lost it. He was for 
some time an officer in Funchal, and was highly re- 
spected as an intelligent and honourable man. He 
retired when thirty-five years of age, to his native 
village of St Da Sara, and became its chief magis- 
trate. He heard of Dr. Kalley's school, though he 
never attended. As the people were telling one 
another of the wonderful things in the Bible, he be- 
came curious to learn what such a book could con- 
tain. 

He went to Dr. Kalley asking, " What do these 
things mean ?" The story of the cross was told to 
him. It was to him very wonderful. Was it not 
strange that he had not heard it before ? If the 
Romanists were true Christians, surely they would 
teach that ! But they had never taught him how to 
be saved through the death of Jesus Christ. 

He obtained a Bible, took it home, read it eager- 
ly, and loved its truths. It was precious to him. 
The people about him came to learn what he had 
that made him so happy. They said, " This man 
soon talk more strong on the gospel than any other 
of the people." 

But enemies soon were spying out his libertj\ 
Some one told the Bible-haters that he read the 
word of God, and denied that the bread in the sa- 
crament was the real body of Christ. He was seized, 
torn away from his family, tried before the court, 
and of course put into prison. His foes might tor- 
ture him if they chose, but he would not give up the 



THE BIBLE READERS. 37 

Bible. They could not take its truths out of his 
head and heart. 

In the jail o£ Funchal was a place called the 
Bomba. It was a most disgusting den of filth. It 
was only twelve feet square. In it were often 
placed twenty persons, and when a friend would go 
there to give them bread, he would come away sick and 
almost unable to walk. It is most likely that Mr. 
Lomelino was often put in the Bomba, for the spite 
of his persecutors was so great that they tortured 
him all they could. Other prisoners said that if 
any severity of suffering, or abuse of words, or 
loathsome condition, was to be endured, it was re- 
served for him. They were ready to let a Barabbas 
go free, but an innocent disciple of Jesus must 
suffer. 

The reason was plain. They hated him the 
worst, because they feared him most. They did not 
fear his hands, for he was meek, patient, and for- 
giving. He was careful not to say a word against 
the government or the religion of the island. If he 
could have been free, he would not have forced any 
one to read the Bible, nor done harm to any of his 
persecutors. They knew this. What they feared 
was his influence. He was intelligent, and would 
lead others to read the word of God. 

He was obliged to pay for his own support in 

prison. After nearly two years' suffering, he, with 

twenty-one others, was released from the jail. They 

were told that if they did not return at once to the 

4 



S8 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Romlsli church, they should be imprisoned again 
on charges which would be sure to convict them. 
In those days if a witness did not. give evidence to 
please the priest, they threatened him with imprison- 
ment. False witnesses could be hired, just as they 
were against Jesus. 

After these twenty-two persons were set at liberty 
again, (and such liberty !) some enemies threatened 
to murder them. Open violence soon broke forth. 
On the very evening when they left the jail, some 
Romanists were carrying the ''host" in procession 
past a poor Protestant's house. These bearers of 
the host pretended to be very devout and solemn. 
But some of them broke open the poor man's door 
and destroyed all the property on which they could 
lay their hands. On the same day another poor 
man was quietly going home, thinking perhaps how 
his house had been burned to the ground five months 
before, or how he should provide for his large family 
of children. He was attacked and cruelly knocked 
down. His arm was broken by the first blow, four 
wounds on his head laid bare his skull, and the very 
women bit him as he lay on the ground ; one of them 
tore the flesh from his cheek with her teeth ! 

Mr. Lomelino went home, but his family were 
gone. They too were Bible-readers, and had been 
driven away. He was there but a few days when 
he was arrested again. He admitted before the 
court that he read the word of God. For this he 
was sentenced to five years' banishment, But he 



THE BIBLE READERS. 39 

appealed to the higher courts of Lisbon, and re- 
mained in prison on the island for eight months, 
until the time of his further trial. Of course he 
also lost his property. 

One day his fellow prisoners gnashed on him with 
their teeth and cried out, " Now, dog, prepare to die, 
for your God dies to-day ! Dr. Kalley is to be 
killed before to-morrow morning." He was aware 
that plots had often been laid against his own life 
in the prison, but he was not troubled by them. 
He was, however, in great sorrow when he was told 
that Dr. Kalley was to be murdered. How base 
and ungrateful his countryman were to their best 
earthly benefactor ! How awful their crime of kill- 
ing a man who was doing so much to teach men 
how to be saved ! Yet he thought of the suflfering 
Saviour, and felt able to say, " I am ready to die, 
and expect to die ; or I am ready to live and suffer for 
Jesus' name." He was not banished by the judges, 
but was held in prison for several months longer. 

When he came to the United States in 1848, he was 
asked if it was not hard to live in a dungeon three 
years, when he knew he was innocent. " Oh no," 
said he, " it is not hard if you believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ and in the Bible." He said that he 
often thought of Paul and Silas singing in the 
prison at midnight, and he often wanted to sing as 
they did, but was not permitted. The vilest songs 
were allowed to be sung by wicked men who laughed 
at his religion. 



40 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

In those days the Bible-readers fled to the caves, 
to the woods, and a wealthy young lady was so 
closely pursued that she hid in a sewer of the street. 
Some died in their efforts to escape. It would be 
impossible to tell the half that was suffered. 

At one time the government formed the idea of a 
massacre of the Christians. They were told by 
oflScers that if they still persisted in reading the 
word of God, they should be burned ; and thus an 
end would be put to the heresy. 

These converts replied in the true spirit of primi- 
tive martyrs : " We are willing to be shut up in this 
prison, and suffer here, and we are willing to be 
burned; but we are not willing to give up this book, 
and to give up our faith." 

There is no doubt but this Bible-reading was the 
prime cause of the persecutions that followed. 
Komanism can never live among those who read the 
Bible in their own houses. The cry of the great 
corrupt church is, " Away with the Bible !'* The word 
of our Lord is, " Search the Scriptures." The Be- 
reans could not have been Roman Catholics. '' They 
searched the Scriptures daily." There was no 
Romanism in the home of young Timothy, for he 
knew the Scriptures from a child. But all Bereans, 
all the Loises, the Eunices, and Timothys on Madeira 
were persecuted. What would St. Peter have said 
to all this ? " Grow in knowledge." 



MRS. MARIA JOAQUINA ALVES. 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

MRS. MARIA JOAQUINA ALVES. 

*' She has been called to such a trial of her faith as has fallen to 
the lot of no other Christian woman in the nineteenth century." 

This noble woman was the wife of Manuel Alves, 
and the mother of seven children, one of whom was 
a tender babe when she was first taken from them. 
She lived in the village of Santa Cruz, twenty-five 
or thirty miles from Funchal. It would seem that 
her home was a pleasant one, and well furnished 
with the comforts of this life. 

In some way the Bible came into her hands. It 
was a new book to her. She read it, and found that 
Jesus was the only Saviour of sinners. She learned 
that saints, angels, and the Virgin Mary, were not 
able to save. She discovered that her former teach- 
ers had deceived her. Her prayer was directed to 
Jesus Christ, who heard her and forgave her sins. 
Great was her joy in the Saviour. She told her 
neighbours, as the woman of Samaria did, when she 
invited the people to come and see Jesus. 

Her light was shining and her enemies saw it. 

They saw that her godly life and fervent prayers 
4 * 



42 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

would lead many to become lovers of God and his 
word. They thought they would fill the minds of 
others with terror by making an example of her. 
She was arrested and placed in the village jail for 
nine months. Then she was removed to the prison 
at Funchal. This loathsome place was her home 
for years, where she breathed only the spirit of 
prayer for her persecutors. She was put in a room 
with twenty more, to be exposed to their ridicule and 
insults. At length she had a separate room, but 
there was no door to protect her. She took with 
her a New Testament, concealed in her bosom, so 
that in her lonely days she could still read the 
words of comfort and faith. Soon however she was 
searched, her Testament was found, and thrown 
to the flames. Her friends gave her two others at 
different times, but they were taken and burned. 
Yet she was cheerful. Her mind was stayed on her 
Saviour. It is wonderful how the truth and love 
of God can make the greatest sufferers happy. She 
was willing to die if that was her Lord's will. For 
her children she must have been very anxious. 

The more firm her faith was, the more angry were 
her persecutors. They resolved that she should 
suff*er the severest penalty of the law. The long- 
expected day for her trial came. She went into the 
court room, prepared for the sentence of death. The 
court made a great display. The judge was very 
grave. Her indictment was read. Three charges 
were written against her, " Apostasy, heresy, and 



MRS. ALVES. 4l 

blaspliemy !" She was tried only for blasphemy. 
And what had she done that was blasphemous ? She 
had refused to say that the " wafer" in the Romish 
communion was the real body and the real blood of 
Jesus Christ, and refused to adore it ! Just what 
any of us who know what common sense is, would 
refuse to do ! Never was this denial a sin. 

The question was asked : " Do you believe the 
consecrated host is the real body and real blood of 
Jesus Christ ?' ' On the answer her life would hinge. 
She knew it. But she dared not give a false answer. 
" I do not believe it," she calmly replied. All eyes 
were fixed on a woman who could not be frightened. 
She could boldly say, ^' I do not believe it !'' 

What was now to be done ? One would suppose 
that such an honest opinion of what is as plain as 
day-light, would not meet with harshness. But 
while all eyes were gazing, the judge rose and pro- 
nounced upon her the sentence of death ! The 
sentence was in these words : — 

" In view of the answers of the jury and the dis- 
cussions of the cause, &c. , it is proved that the accused, 
Maria Joaquina, perhaps forgetful of the principles 
of the holy religion she received in her first years, 
and to which she still belongs, has maintained con- 
versations and arguments condemned by the church ; 
maintaining that veneration should not be given to 
images ; denying the real existence of Christ in the 
sacred host ; the mystery of the most Holy Trinity ; 



44 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

blaspheming against the most holy Virgin, the 
mother of God, and advancing other expressions 
against the doctrines received and followed by 
the Roman Catholic apostolic church, expounding 
these condemned doctrines to different persons, thus 
committing the crimes of heresy, blasphemy, &c. I 
condemn the accused, Maria Joaquina, to suffer 
DEATH as provided in the law ; the costs of the 
process, &c. to be paid out of her goods. 

'' Funchal Oriental^ iii public court ^ May 2dj 
1844. 

'' Jose Perreira Leito Pitta Ortegueira Negrao, 
Judge, &c.'' 

Such a sentence ought to go down to every gen- 
eration that will know anything of Romanism. 
Remember this was not done in the dark ages, but 
in 1844 ! It was not for murder nor treason, but 
for daring to deny an absurdity. She had not 
united with any Protestant church ; she had simply 
refused to believe an error ! 

She thought the sentence would be as unchange- 
able as the laws of the Modes and Persians. She 
did not ask the court to reverse it. No apology 
escaped her lips, no mercy was asked ; but she stood 
with heroic firmness, and commended her persecu- 
tors to God, praying for their salvation. Death had 
no terror for such a spirit. Her Lord endured the 
shame of the cross, and she was ready to die in any 



MRS. ALVES. 4& 

shameful way that they dare propose. Her expec- 
tation was, soon to be in heaven. 

The English people on the island were deeply 
aflfected by such a cruel procedure. They drew up 
a petition to the Queen of Portugal asking that this 
Christian lady might not be so unjustly put to death. 
An appeal was also carried up to the higher court, 
and in 1845, it was declared that as there had been 
no trial for two of the charges (heresy and apostasy), 
she might be released from the penalty of death, 
but should be kept in prison for three months and 
should pay a fine of six dollars. But how could she 
pay the fine ? They would not allow her friends to 
do it. So she must suffer out the fine. Month 
after month she was kept in the dismal prison. For 
those six dollars she was imprisoned twenty-three 
months ! In all she was kept in prison more than 
two years and a half ! 

She had a sister with her part of these long 
years as a fellow-sufferer. When their days were 
fulfilled, they were allowed to return to the family, 
who were glad to meet her whom they never 
expected to see at home again. Great joy was felt 
by the Christian people at her release. To show 
what foes she had to face, we quote a letter from 
the Rev. Mr. Hewitson, the devoted missionary on 

the island : 

« 

" July 11th, 1845. It was reported a few days 
ago that a writer was to be posted at the door, to 
take down the names of the people who might enter ; 



46 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

but as yet he has not made his appearance. Mean- 
while public notice has been given by means of 
placards, I believe, fixed at the church doors, that 
all who have not been attending the Roman Catholic 
church, and not gone to confess to the priest, are 
required to confess or attend church, within the 
space of ten days, at the risk of being imprisoned. 
The ten days have not yet expired. Maria Joaquina 
was liberated from prison on Thursday of last week. 
I saw her a short time after her release, and on 
Saturday morning she was present at our meeting 
for worship. She had been in prison for two years 
and some months. She is an applicant for admission 
to the communion.'* 

This living martyr, with her husband, children, 
and sister, afterwards fled to Trinidad. She after- 
wards came to the United States. She seemed 
always happy. A friend in New York asked her, 
^' Is your faith in Jesus Christ as strong now as 
before, and are you as willing to die as when in 
prison, and expecting to be executed ?" 

" I feel,'' said she with a starting tear, " that my 
faith in Jesus Christ is growing stronger and 
stronger every day, and that I am willing to die 
whenever he calls me." 

She is hastening to the close of her pilgrimage, 
when she shall come up before the bright throne 
of glory ''out of great tribulation." She went to 
her western home in Illinois, there to be buried 
and rest till the morning of the resurrection. 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 47 



CHAPTER V. 

THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 

Dr. Kalley had been often threatened. His 
friends in Scotland wrote for him to flee the island. 
But with Nehemiah he could say, " Should such a 
man as I flee ?" In one of his letters written when 
he expected every hour to be put in jail, he says, 
*' You reminded me of the order given, when perse- 
cuted in one city to flee into another ; but you will 
also remember that it is said of the hireling that he 
fleeth, because he is an hireling, and the wolf comes, 
and catches the sheep. Were I to flee, I believe 
the poor sheep of Christ's fold would feel deeply 
discouraged, and the wolf would catch them. The 
Lord can deliver out of the paw of the lion, and of 
the bear. He would deliver them though I were 
away ; but it is necessary for us always to examine 
well, and seek to know the will of God, for it is not 
for us to run whenever the lion growls. Let those 
who have no hope, or confidence in the Eternal, 
fear men that shall die, but let not us fear earth or 
hell." 

There was danger. He says, ''In point of fact, 



48 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

the Inquisition is established in Funchal. There is 
a secret tribunal of priests, who make investigations 
in secret ; and without any citation or hearing of 
the person, he is consigned to the civil power to be 
put in jail, against even their own ecclesiastical laws 
and civil rights.'' 

Dr. Kalley was the special object of vengeance 
from the priests and the government. But how 
could he be arrested ? The treaty between England 
and Portugal would forbid it. This treaty gave all 
persons in Madeira the liberty to enjoy their own 
religion without molestation. But the Romanists 
were determined that Dr. Kalley should not sit 
under this vine. So they hunted up an old law of 
the Inquisition in 1603, which had no more force 
there than a law from the court of Japan, and by 
that they arrested him, tried, condemned, and put 
him into prison. For five months he lay in the 
gloomy cell. 

Nor was he idle there. The friends of the 
prisoners were allowed to visit them six or eight 
hours every day, perhaps with the design of trying 
to induce them to recant the new doctrines. The 
jailer warned many of them not to visit Dr. Kalley, 
and he took down the names of many who did visit 
him, threatening to have them arrested. They 
were however allowed to enter by threes, but there 
was to be " no singing or reading of the Bible 
there." On Sabbaths, from seventy to an hundred 
friends came to hear him talk to them. As only 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 49 

three could enter at a time, there were many 
gathered about the door, anxiously waiting their 
turn. These persons were mocked and abused by 
those who went to and from the cathedral. Dr. 
Kalley was released in 1844. He often had six 
hundred people to hear him, from whom he withheld 
nothing which would benefit their souls. 

A new governor was appointed. This man had 
declared that if, he ever filled that office, he would 
not rest until he had driven Dr. Kalley from the 
island and put a stop to the work. He began in 
earnest to do this, by every means at his command. 
The free use of the cudgel was recommended as an 
argument which country people could feel and 
understand. Murder was suggested in the public 
papers as an easy way to get rid of the teachers 
and readers of the Bible. Hints were thrown out 
about a new St. Bartholemew's day ! or Sicilian 
vespers. The officers did not rebuke such threats 
in any public manner, if they did at all. Some 
persons were beaten, some stoned ; three houses 
were burned, two more were fired, and all at the 
same hour, though far apart. The more the sufi'erers 
complained and entreated, the more injury they 
received. The dead were refused a grave except in 
the highway. 

Dr. Kalley expected to be driven away from the 

island. He knew it would be best to avoid this if 

possible. He went to Lisbon, and it was agreed to 

stay certain proceedings against him. He was 

5 



50 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

earnestly desiring help, so that by being less pub- 
lic himself as a teacher, he might still labour for 
those already converted. Who would come ? 

At Lisbon he met Mr. Hewitson, and learned, to 
his joyful surprise, that he had been appointed by 
the church in Scotland to go to Madeira, and was 
on the way. As this devoted man did so much for 
the work on the island, let us learn more fully who 
he was. 

William Hepburn Hewitson was born at Culross 
in Ayrshire, on the 16th of September, 1812. He 
w^as not a remarkable boy. He was known as a 
delicate pale child, having little taste for boyish 
sports. He was, as all children naturally are, 
worldly and ambitious. His earthly ambition was 
love of praise. He would say in his childish manner 
that he would be '' either a minister or a king,'' and 
he often asked how long it would take to be a king, 
and how long to be a minister. Sometimes he 
would mount a chair and, gathering the little band 
about him, would strain every power to move his 
hearers to tears. And they did weep at his words. 

As he grew older he was devoted to books. Often 
did his school-mates laugh at him for being a book- 
worm. He was ambitious to qualify himself for 
entering college, and had an energy that never 
flagged. He was so independent that he would 
hardlv receive aid from his father in his studies. 
*' All he wanted to know was that such and such 
things should be done, and he set himself in right 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 51 

earnest to do them/' *' Alone and unaided lie at- 
tained to a greater knowledge and skill in languages 
than most boys do at the best academies, with all 
the help of tutors and teachers of first rate accom- 
plishments. Then the foundation was laid of his 
future eminence as a scholar and as a thinker for 
himself.^' 

He was rigorously truthful. He could not endure 
to show any appearance of falsehood in word or 
action. The idea of being a minister of the gospel 
often came to his mind, and he seems to have thought 
no more of ever trying to be a king. '' Even in his 
walks with me as a boy," writes one of his early 
friends, ''he showed the loftiness and purity of his 
aims, in declaring to me that he never would be a 
minister unless he were first a Christian. He scorned 
the mockery of setting up to preach what he did not 
thoroughly believe, and feel, and live upon, himself. 
Every thing must be reality with him, within and 
without. You saw him just as he was.'' 

At college he soon became known as among those 
who were at the head of the list. The self-taught 
country lad had few compeers. When five con testers 
were chosen by the votes of his class he was one of 
the five, and at the top of the list of competitors. 
The student next him, had been in the class already 
for three sessions. Between these two there was 
an intense struggle. At the first examination they 
were pronounced equal — the professor not being 
able to decide between them. At the second trial 



62 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

he made a mistake. He saw it at once. He felt 
that the prize was lost. But he was determined 
that before the professor should enter the class to 
announce his rival's victory, he would let him know 
that the student understood his own blunder as well 
as the professor himself. He therefore wrote a 
polite note to the professor correcting the blunder, 
but acknowledging that it was too late to be helped. 
The professor announced the decision and read the 
note. The students were loud in their praise of 
Hewitson, and though he lost the medal that year, 
they made it up by presenting. him a copy of the 
'' Attic Orators." This delicate gift was honourable 
to all concerned- The next year the professor urged 
him to be a candidate and he took the prize very 
easily. On the morning of March 31st, 1835, as 
the gold medal was hung about his neck, he felt 
almost to be the ''king" of his childish years, and 
the students were rarely so enthusiastic in hailing 
him as the first man of his year. This was his prize 
for the classics. But in Logic also he bore off the 
palm over forty rivals. 

There is a song about the nightingale, that when 
young sat in the nest and picked the green leaves 
of the rose. This was its pleasure. But after 
awhile the rose unfolded itself, and then the bird 
sang only of it, flew among the thorns, wounded 
itself and died. Such young men as Kirke White, 
Pollok, and Hewitson did this. They saw beauty 
blooming on every thorny limb of the tree of 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 53 

knowledge, and in trying to gain it they wounded 
themselves — they almost died by reaching for roses 
where once they gathered only leaves. 

Hewitson paid dearly for his honours. They cost 
him health, and that is hard to buy back when lost. 
The night had hardly stopped him in his pursuit. He 
often had not slept till three or four in the morning, 
and had risen at seven. He did not heed the warn- 
ings of friends. He sometimes came in from class, 
pale and weary, laid his hand on his heart, and drew 
a long breath with evident pain, but still he gave up 
all to study. 

He made one other effort for an honour. A prize 
had been offered to the students for the best essay 
" on the Nature, Causes, and Effects of National 
Character.'* Hewitson stretched forth his hand and 
took it. In December 1837, his essay took the 
honours. It was read, and highly applauded. A 
listener, now known as Dr. James Hamilton of 
London, exclaimed, " What a fine sense he has of 
the sublime !" 

Do you not imagine that the young victor had his 
heart set on publishing the essay ? Not long be- 
fore he would have leaped for joy at the proposal. 
But now Professor Wilson urges its publication, and 
Hewitson refuses ! All is changed ! 

He felt that he had grasped a shadow ; ah ! a sting- 
ing serpent. He thought of himself and was ashamed. 
He thought upon God and was troubled. He felt 
that he must be a minister of the gospel, but how 
5 * 



54 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

■unprepared, how unworthy, how fearful ! He says, 
*' that is the grand object of my existence — the 
motive of all my exertions — identified with all my 
hopes, and fears — the centre of my soul. If it be 
not gained, a dark cloud will settle all around my 
path, a blighting chill will benumb all my faculties, 
and will make me useless to myself and others." 

Oh if he only loved Jesus ! that is now his thought. 
Once he loved to be praised, but now his soul is on 
fire with a purer, nobler wish ; he wants to praise 
Jesus and tell of his great love. His sad soul 
mourns as he wishes his heart were full of love to 
its God and Saviour, and yet finds it cold as ice and 
hard as adamant. 

And why, how, this change ? A "living epistle" 
had come before his eye. He read the lesson and 
learned it well. 

While at Leamington writing that prize essay, he 
was aroused to something nobler than seeking 
honours of men. He says, '' I happened one day 
to turn up to the mineral spring. A young man 
entered the building, whose appearance at once at- 
tracted my observation. His coarse linen frock 
contrasted strangely with the gay apparel of the 
groups before me. He was emaciated and walked 
forward with a feeble step. After drinking of the 
water (out of a vessel of earthen ware, which was 
placed beside a number of tumblers), he, without 
having apparently observed any one, again slowly 
withdrew. After a little, I began slowly to descend 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 55 

the hill, in the middle of which the spring was sit- 
uated, and found the young man sitting at one of 
the bends of the winding path which slopes gently 
down the declivity. I spoke to him. His diiBdent 
tone of voice, and his modesty of manner, at once 
enlisted my sympathies. During several weeks after- 
wards I frequently visited his father's lowly cottage. 
My intercourse with the young man soon gave me 
ground to conclude, that, if my theoretic knowledge 
of gospel truths was greater than his, he, unlike 
myself, had experienced their sanctifying power. 
Truly his was the better portion. When he spoke 
of the Saviour's love to sinners, and of his obedience 
unto death for their redemption, he at times gave 
vent to his gratitude in tears of joy. Pointing ta 
his clothes on one occasion, he said, addressing his 
father, " These will be no more needed ; I wish you 
to sell them ; the price of them will be enough to 
pay for my coffin." He seemed like one who had 
obtained " everlasting consolation and good hope 
through grace," to have not a shadow of doubt or 
anxiety on his soul as to the prospect of eternal 
glory. One evening about sunset he fell asleep." 

The young prize seeker was struck with an arrow 
from God. That peasant was such a " living epis- 
tle," that no one could read it and not be affected. 
The thought came, " I am a stranger to all this." 
He asked himself, " Could I thus calmly pass into 
the immediate presence of the holy and just Jehovah ? 
Am i, like him, sheltered from the ' wrath to come?' 



56 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

What must I do to be saved ? How miserable a 
state of mind is that in which sorrow, like a heavy 
load, weighs upon the heart, and tries to find relief 
in tears, but cannot find it !" Well might he have 
said as Cowper wrote : 

*'I was a stricken deer that left the herd 
Long since ; with many an arrow deep infixed 
My panting side was charged, when I withdrew 
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades. 
There I was found by One who had himself 
Been hurt by th* archers. In his side he bore, 
And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars. 
With gentle force soliciting the darts, 
He drew them forth, and healed, and bade me live.'' 

His mind could not be turned from the ministry. 
To be a king would only be playing with baubles. 
But he doubts ever being capable to preach. Yet 
he says, " Let God dispose of me for time and for 
eternity so as most to show forth his glory. If it 
be his will that I am to be a minister of Christ, 
blessed be his name ! If he dispose of me otherwise, 
his will be done !" 

In 1838 he became a student at Edinburgh where 
Dr. Chalmers presided over Divinity Hall. For 
talent and scholarship he was well known. But 
there was a deep sorrow in his heart, which no 
human eye could detect. He says, " I cried to the 
unknown Crod with my voice, and often cried in 
despair. The cry seemed never to reach his ears, 
and then I was so ' troubled that I could not speak.' 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 57 

At such a time would I pour forth to God such 
lines as these : 

** * Oh wherefore hast thou left me now 

In desperate struggles all alone ? 
What tempest hides thine awful brow ? 

What horror girds thy gracious throne ? 
Thou art my Father — deign to look 

Upon the anguish throbbing here, 
And not regard with stern rebuke 

The scorching agony of this tear/ '' 

But he came at length to the cross, and found his 
burden gone. In 1840, he was brought under the 
preaching of that burning and shining light, Mr. 
McCheyne, and he was led to Jesus. He now 
pressed forward " toward the mark for the prize of 
the hio;h callino; of God in Christ Jesus." He now 
wished to have '' an ear deaf to the world's music, 
but all awake to the voice of Him who is ' the chief 
among ten thousand and the altogether lovely.' " 
He too became a " living epistle," and when he 
went again among his friends at home, " they took 
knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus." 

Still he was a student. He writes — " In the 
course of my walkings to-day, I have been in- 
formed that I am studying twenty-four hours a day, 
and I may reasonably expect ere long to be informed 
that I am very ill in consequence of my hard study. 
Oh that this indolent me were able to study hard !" 
And again two months later he writes, " I am not 
troubled now either by the ' indolence of genius,' or 
the genius of indolence. I was out of bed this morn- 



68 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

ing by four o'clock. I wish I could keep ' Minshuir 
hours regularly ; I dare say such hours were kept 
by Adam and Eve when they were wont to close 
their eyes in faith, and open them in prayer." 

'' God will not suffer me to be ambitious now," 
he says. His fine genius was turned to the cross, 
and he became a little child. He sold the gold 
medal, once the idol of his heart, and put the pro- 
ceeds into the Lord's treasury. 

Thoughts of the missionary work now came into 
his mind. '' Such is the expansive energy of Chris- 
tian love," he once said, " that wherever it sees a 
brow like that which was mocked with a crown of 
thorns, it will not be satisfied till on that brow there 
be engraved the name of Jesus. ' I am a mission- 
ary' is a thought which we should frequently — every 
day that passes — entertain in our minds. We should 
be ever ready to put the question, ' What as a mis- 
sionary ought I now to do ?' " 

"I am forbidden to study," he was compelled 
at length to say. Disease shut him up in the house, 
during the winter of 1841-2. In the spring he 
went to Germany for his health. To a great suf- 
erer he wrote while travelling. '' You are tried by 
sore pain in the morning ; at nine o'clock in the 
morning Christ was nailed to the cross. All day 
long you are afflicted with pain ; Christ hung on the 
cross in an agony till three o'clock in the afternoon. 
'Behold the lamb of God !' and amidst your suffer- 
ings, take comfort from the sight of his wounded, 



THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 59 

bleeding body/' Such a man would make a ^' son 
of consolation'' to the people of God. 

Again he was in the solitude of Dalmellington, 
his home. His friends thought that he would soon 
die of consumption. But he was intent on doing 
some work for the Master ere he should go hence. 
He thought of the south of France, and Malta, as 
fields of labour, where his health might possibly 
be regained. Little did he know yet, that God was 
making a way for him in Madeira. The hour had 
come, and a Mr. Sym proposed that island on which 
such a grand scene was enacting. Yes, Madeira ! 
it was the very place. God had sent one labourer there 
through ill health, and now he has another ready 
when needed. It was a pleasing idea to Mr. Hew- 
itson. He wrote, October 15, 1844, '^ It is, I un- 
derstand, most desirable, at present, that a minister 
should be sent out to Madeira to acquire the Por- 
tuguese language, with a view to preaching the 
gospel to the poor Portuguese in the island. Dur- 
ing the year which would be spent in doing nothing 
but acquiring the language, my health might be so 
far recruited, by the blessing of God on the change 
of air, as to enable me afterwards to labour in that 
part of the vineyard. Doubtless it would be more 
consonant to my natural wishes, to be a minister of 
the gospel at home ; but if in a way so unexpected, 
the Lord be pleased to say, ' I will send thee far 
hence unto the Gentiles,' it is my part to deny my- 
self through his grace, and take up my cross and 



60 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

go. Madeira is at present the forlorn hope of 
Christianity. There, more than anywhere else in 
our day, has Popery breathed its natural element 
of intolerance and persecution." 

^'Yesterday," he writes, November 7th, 1844, 
" was a solemn day, one ever to be remembered. I 
was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh (Free 
church of Scotland)." This was part of the pre- 
paration for Madeira. " I go to Portugal as a 
missionary and may have much to try me and put 
my faith to the proof." " Pray for me, my dear 
friend. Remember my trials and difficulties before 
the Lord. Let us not forget Saturday evenings at 
seven o'clock. Then pray for fruit unto eternal 
life from among the poor Portuguese." 

Some one unwisely published the fact that Mr. 
Hewitson intended to go to Madeira, but the Lord 
overruled it for good. It made it necessary for him to 
go first to Lisbon. There his Master took him 
'' aside, once more to give to his sickle a new edge." 
The two months spent there did much to qualify 
him for trying events, among enemies such as he 
had never known, and could not fully know until he 
should suffer persecution. 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. 61 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE YOUNa MISSIONARY. 

'' Tuesday, January 28th, 1844. Mr. A 

called this evening to tell me that Dr. Kalley had 
arrived from Madeira ; and while he was here, a 
letter came from Mr. Sym, intimating that I had 
the consent of the Colonial Committee to go imme- 
diately to Madeira. Thus, in a marvellous manner, 
the Lord has been answering the prayer which yes- 
terday I offered up for direction and counsel.'' 

Thus while the Lord was preparing a labourer for 
the Held, he was also preparing the field for the 
labourer. It must have overjoyed the heart of Dr. 
Kalley thus to meet one, who, without his knowledge, 
had been sent to stay up his hands, and reap a 
glorious harvest. The young missionary was to 
take his place. 

There was no church yet organized among the 
converts. Not many had openly renounced Popery; 
only twenty-five or thirty ; many were reading the 
Bible and giving up the errors of Rome one by one. 
They were truly as sheep without a shepherd. Mr. 
Hewitson was entering upon a field where the 
6 



62 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

enemy was strong. He was sent forth as a sheep 
among wolves. He ran the risk of enmity, and im- 
mediately sought after those who wished to learn 
the gospel. He lived with a Eev. J. J. Wood, of 
England, and had a room in the dwelling for hold- 
ing meetings. Here was the '' church in the 
house," 

Every day converts and inquirers came to meet 
him. Few came at a time, lest the ofiicers of the 
city should forbid any to go. In the Lord's way 
he had learned their language at Lisbon. He spoke 
it as a " gift from God," though he could not under- 
stand them when they spoke. " The good people," 
he says, " are so anxious to be understood, that 
when I ask them to speak more at leisure, they 
speak all the faster !" Several persons applied for 
admission to the Lord's table. They had gained 
clear views from the Bible respecting Christ, and the 
last supper. One lady, whose heart overflowed 
with love to the Saviour, said she would rather be 
put to death than to be silent when the truth was 
spoken against. She " could not but speak the 
things she had heard. "^ 

The little church grew. The difficulty was to 
keep too many from crowding the room at one time. 
Four parents came one Saturday evening, a four 
hours' walk, and brought their children to be bap- 
tized on Sabbath. Soon after that a communion 
was held, in the evening, '' the doors being shut for 
fear." Thirty-four converts were there, with a 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. 63 

happiness they never had known before. More 
might have been admitted, but there was no room 
in the house ; every thing had to be done in the most 
quiet manner. 

Now he found an Apollos, ^ ^mighty in the Scrip- 
tures." Let us recite the beautiful story. Dr. 
Kalley was staying one summer on the north side 
of the island to enjoy the sea bathing. One 
day an almost blind carpenter was led by the hand 
over the mountains, to consult the doctor about his 
eyes. The doctor did all he could to relieve him. 
The visitor then asked — as few did — what he had 
to pay. He was told, "I do not want money, but 
if God blesses the remedies and you wish to pay me 
for my trouble, I would like you to learn to read 
the word of God and do as he bids you." The 
ignorant carpenter went home, taking a Bible with 
him. 

The next summer the same persons met at the 
same place. The carpenter was as blind as at first. 
But he had learned a great deal from the Bible. 
He would speak of a truth and say, " You will find 
the proof in such a chapter and such a verse." His 
sight had been restored — he had gone to school, 
learned to read, read the Bible with prayer for 
God's teaching, got married, and lost his sight 
again — all this in a year. He was asked how he 
had learned so much of the truth in so short a time, 
and replied, '' God could teach me more in five 
minutes !" 



64 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

This carpenter had a priest. Padre Vigarlo. He 
one day went to the priest with a tract, which Dr. 
Kalley had given him, on which were the ten com- 
mandments. *' Are these the true commandments of 
God?'' he asked. The priest declared they were 
not. He abused Dr. Kalley most bitterly for giv- 
ing such a tract to be read in his parish. But the 
carpenter was determined to have the evidence of 
his senses, for he could now see. He told the priest 
that surely he had a Bible of his own, and asked 
him to be kind enough to bring it forth so that they 
might compare the tract with the record in Exodus. 
The priest at first refused, but was forced to yield at 
last. The Bible was brought. The priest either 
could not, or would not find the chapter. He turned 
to the beginning, middle, and end of the Bible. So 
the carpenter took it and at once turned to the 
20th chapter of Exodus. Then giving the priest 
the one, he read the other. They were the same. 
This man was '' strong in the gospel." But the priest 
was all the more angry, and declared that if the 
English doctor ever entered his parish, he should 
not leave it except piecemeal ! 

This victory cost the carpenter his liberty. Not 
long after he was visited by some persons, who were 
carrying a little flag with a figure of a pigeon on the 
top of the staff. They asked alms, as is done once 
a year, for the Holy Ghost ! They knocked at the 
door, were invited in, and then begged for alms for 
the "Espirito Santo" (Holy Spirit). " This is not 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. . 65 

the Esplrito Santo," said the carpenter. " We 
know no other," they replied. '' The Holy Ghost 
is a spirit," said the reasonable man, ''and that is 
a piece of cloth fastened to a stick." The men 
went and told the priest Vigario ; the priest reported 
the case to the judge, and the judge had the poor 
man brought to court, tried, and condemned to suf- 
fer in the common jail. In Romish countries there 
seem to be a great many jails — one always close by 
where a Bible-reader is arrested ! He was there 
for two months, but this did not convince him that 
the parish priest was right, nor that the Bible was 
wrong. This man came to Mr. Hewitson asking 
baptism for his infant child. 

There was a poor man on the island named Jeron- 
ymo. When seventeen years old a severe illness 
made his mind feeble, his hands, head, and feet 
tremulous, and his appearance quite boyish and 
foolish. When Dr. Kalley first saw him, he was 
about thirty years of age. He had learned a few 
words of French and English, and used them in 
begging from strangers. He was an idler of little 
account to any one, as idlers usually are. The boys 
often teazed him, and laughed at his stammering 
w^ords and strange gestures when angry. 

One Sabbath in the spring of 1843, the police 
were stationed at Dr. Kalley's door to prevent or 
w^atch any persons who wished to hear the word of 
God, from entering the house. Jeronymo took a 
fancy to go in. One or two persons had been 
6 * 



66 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

beaten for daring to enter, but the police did not 
think it worth their while to hinder poor Jeronymo. 
The time for worship had not quite arrived, and 
some of the family thought that Jeronymo was sent 
there to d6 some mischief, for they were alarmed at 
his idiotic appearance. They sent him away with- 
out Dr. Kalley's knowledge. But God, who often 
chooses the weak to confound the mighty, would not 
let Jeronymo be offended and go away. He lingered 
about the gate. In the afternoon he came and took 
his seat with the little band of worshippers. No one 
invited him to leave this time. His eyes and mind 
were riveted. With open mouth and staring face 
he sat hearing of the wonderful works of God. He 
learned that Jesus had died for poor Jeronymo, as 
w^ell as for John and Paul. 

He came again and again to the house. It was 
the best place he could find in the city. The boys 
could riot find him to teaze him any more. He 
ceased to beg from strangers, and left ofi* being 
idle. He contrived to support himself by his own 
hands. Nor was this all. He must read the Bible. 
He studied and prayed, and at last became a reader. 
He told others about the true religion and the great 
and good book. The enemies thought that he was 
not worth their persecuting attention, and therefore 
he could labour unharmed. God was making the 
foolish confound the wise. When Dr. Kalley was 
in jail, this poor man would come and get supplies 
of Testaments and tracts to distribute, or sell to 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. 67 

those who would buy them. In this way he earned 
something, and became very useful in the good 
work. 

When the enemies saw how much good such a poor 
man could do, they resolved to stop it. Canon 
Telles, a dignitary of the Romish church and a Jesuit, 
once met him at his door, offering the tracts and 
Testaments, and he gave him a terrible beating. 
Which zeal was the best, that of the Jesuit for his 
church, or that of the humble labourer for the cause 
of Christ ? 

Jeronymo was put into jail, but this was no great 
hardship for him, for he had never seen much bodily 
comfort in this world. For a good while he had 
slept on the steps of some house so as not to be 
caught and beaten. His home was a very poor one. 
It was a little hut, in which his sister lived with an 
idolatrous husband. They would not listen to the 
new convert as he rebuked them for their false wor- 
ship, and so he thought it was not best to live with 
them any longer. Some one asked him where he 
slept and he replied, with as much independence as 
if he owned a palace, that he could sleep quite 
well at any door, and the Lord always provided him 
with a piece of bread. 

It was no small pleasure to him to be in the same 
jail with Dr. Kalley. One day when in the doctor's 
room, the conversation turned upon the resurrection 
of the body. Poor Jeronymo looked on his hands 
and his feet very much grieved. He could not feel 



68 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

happy, in thinking that the same hands and feet 
would be given him at the resurrection. He had 
hoped to be freed from his poor, weak, awkward body. 
He was then told that if he died trusting in Jesus, 
he should be raised up " like to His glorious body." 
The expression of his face was instantly changed. 
He looked again at his trembling limbs, and then 
gazed upwards with wonder and delight, at the 
thought of having that body made like the Lord's. 

When out of prison he did all he could during the 
day for his Master, and at night slept on the steps 
again whenever he could find a place not exposed to 
the violence of the enemies of Christ. In prison or 
out of prison he was happy. One day he came to 
Mr. Hewitson and heard him speak of the " hid 
treasure.'' He was asked if he understood what it 
meant. He came forward as one who had been 
bruised by severe blows, and said that he knew what 
the hid treasure was, for he had been beaten severe- 
ly the night before because he loved his Saviour. 
Poor Jeronymo could find no '' good Samaritan" 
among his own people, unless they had first been 
taught the Bible. 

Two or three would come to the young mission- 
ary at a time, and others would wait anxiously for 
their time to come. They often were not cautious, 
and would linger at the door watching for it to be 
opened. They seemed not to care for the danger 
of being arrested and cruelly treated. Daily there 
were additions to the church. He found that Mr. 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. 69 

Wood's house was too small as well as too public. 
So he rented another with a garden on each side of it, 
where the people might not be watched so closely 
by the police. His health was still feeble. The 
wonder is that it did not entirely fail. It should be 
noticed that these people are naturally timid and 
fearful of danger. They were persecuted at home 
by friends and suspicious neighbours. Often a 
man's foes were they of his own household. Yet 
the love of God and of his truth made them bold. 

A pony had been left by Mr. Wood for the young 
missionary to ride, when he sought the refreshing 
air on the hills, or the music of the waves along the 
shore. Coming toward his house from one of these 
rides, he saw several policemen on the watch about 
his house. He rode on past the house, and these 
spies continued their watch for two or three hours 
and then left. The few people in the house went 
home, no doubt full of sorrow that their pastor must 
refrain from his work. He wished to use all pru- 
dence, lest these disciples should be beaten with many 
stripes, have their houses burned, their property 
taken away, and their privileges denied them by 
arrest and imprisonment. 

The curses of the priest fell on the poor, instead 
of blessings. A poor man had by careful earnings 
laid up seven pence to pay the priest for confessing 
him. He offered it in the chapel, but the priest 
turned round in anger, and with an oath " hoped 
that he might turn as black as his hat if he would 



70 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

ever confess a man for less than ten pence !" The 
poor man obtained another half penny and offered 
that also, but was rudely turned off with a curse. 
This was his last attendance at priestly confession. 
He learned to confess his sins to God, who invites 
us to come " without money and without price.*' 

Several persons were examined by the officers in 
order to find some cause for an arrest of Mr. Hew- 
itson. The police were ordered to put him down in 
some w^ay. The treaty between England and Por- 
tugal prevented an outrageous attack. Out of pru- 
dence he discontinued his meeting for a few weeks, 
in order that the black cloud of threats might blow 
over a little. Yet the converts were bold, and their 
enemies saw that imprisonment was a poor way to 
cure them. The lion Ment about roaring, for he 
knew not what to do with this devoted pastor and 
the harmless people. 

In making strong the church, Mr. Hewitson took 
another important step. Let him tell it in his own 
words, dated May 8th, 1845. " I have been contem- 
plating the ordination of three or four elders. On 
Tuesday last, I intimated to a godly young man, that 
I wished him to become an elder, asking him if he 
would object to undertake the office. He answered 
that he would refuse to do nothing that was agree- 
able to the will of God ; and, evidently referring to 
a threatened attempt on the part of the enemies of 
the truth to force him into the military service, he 
added, that he would gladly enlist himself as a 



THE YOUXG MISSIONARY. 71 

soldier to defend the Lord's cause and people. The 
young man is a devoted servant of God, vrith intense 
love of Bible truth. He quotes the Scriptures with 
great readiness and felicity." The missionary then 
proposed that this young man should be assisted in 
preparing for the ministry. '' The time may be 
not far distant," he says, " when I shall be obliged 
to leave Madeira by the strong arm of persecution, 
and it would be a great comfort to the afflicted 
church here, amidst their privations, to have the 
prospect of so soon receiving ordinances at the hands 
of one of their own number." Elders were after- 
wards ordained. 

May 12th, he writes, " The horizon is becoming 
more and more cloudJ^ Two or three days ago at 
a dinner party, the Bishop of Madeira declared ex- 
terminating war against the Bible. He said that 
he had all the authorities on his side,* and he was 
resolved to put down all dissent from the Roman 
Catholic Church. Yesterday while the Bishop was 
preaching, he fell down in a fit. This might teach 
him that the Lord is mightier than he." 

"An excellent young man, who should be made 
an elder of the Portuguese church in Madeira, on 
a person saying to him, 'that the church of Rome is 
the mother of us all,' had replied, ' Then keep her to 

* Very much like the hoast of Sennacherib in 2 Chron. xxxii. 10- 
IS. But the missionary could have said, " There be more with ns 
than with him. With him is an arm of flesh ; but with us is tho 
Lord our God to help us,*' ver. 7-8. 



T2 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

yourself.' He was, for this, sent to jail four 
months." 

The police warned him not to continue the meet- 
ings in his house, or he would be arrested, and the 
court would not handle him mildly. He thought, how- 
ever, that it was better to violate the Portuguese 
law, than the law of Christ, and so he cautiously 
held meetings under cover of the night. 

Aug. 24, 1844, he writes, ''This night we are 
at eight o' clock to ' keep the feast' in secret, and 
with closed doors and windows, in our dining-room, 
with this poor and persecuted little flock of Christ. 
The service if discovered will send his dear servant 
to prison, but the Lord is his keeper." 

The jailer was very kind at this time. He al- 
lowed three prisoners to get out 07i parole^ and go to 
the " Church in the house." He knew they would 
come back, for they said they would. He knew 
that these Bible-readers could be trusted. Honour 
to that jailer ! 

The Lord took his servant out of this danger. 
He became too ill to labour in the city, and sought 
rest and recovery by retiring to a village fifteen 
miles distant. Disease crept more rapidly upon him. 
He was brought back to Funchal, in a hammock, a 
mode of conveyance in this mountainous land. Dr. 
Kalley was absent in Scotland. The physician 
almost despaired of seeing Hewitson well again. 
Nor was the patient very hopeful. He said, " For two 
or three days I scarcely expected recovery. I never 



THE YOUXG MISSIONARY. 73 

went down so far into the dark valley, nor got so 
steady a gaze over the verge of time into the depths 
of eternity." For six weeks he could not meet, on 
Sabbath, with the Scotch congregation worshipping 
there. Yet he declared that these were the " sweetest 
weeks he ever spent in Madeira." A friend sent 
him some flowers and he wrote back, " When we 
lind the Lord's flowers withering in our hands, we 

should not vex our souls as we are apt to do He 

is not hiding his face, though the flowers be dry. 
He would have us be ever going again, through the 
gentle dropping dews of prayer in the Holy Ghost, 
to knock at his garden gate, and ask him for a 
fresh gift of his choicest flowers. He withers the 
flowers we have, that we may ask for more. Oh 
matchless love of Jesus ! He wishes us to come 
as^ain and aojain.'' 

This sickness crave streno-th to his heart for the 
good work. " Out of weakness he was made strong." 
He did not think best to renew the public meetings 
till Dr. Kalley should return, lest the foe should get 
some advantage. But he set on foot a new method. 
The converts should hold meetings from house to 
house, and those best instructed should conduct them. 
It was a happy plan. He organized a class, who 
should study the gospel, in order to be qualified to 
teach others. Some came eighteen miles to attend 
it. One person, just released from jail, was asked 
to lead in prayer, but feeling his need of learning 
and good language, he said, '' Excuse me, for I can 
7 



74 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

only pray as I have been taught by the Holy Ghost !" 
Would that all Christians could thus learn from the 
Spirit of God ! 

The rage of the enemy waxed more terrible ; more 
was known of jails than of churches in those stormy 
days. Hewitson was waiting daily for the call of 
policemen to hurry him away to prison. Dr. 
Kalley returned to the island. The missionary was 
forbidden to preach or teach in the name of Jesus. 
One of the judges was ordered to arrest him, but 
declined. The Bishop went to Lisbon to get aid to 
put down the religion of Christ. The English mer- 
chants were forbidden to have any meetings of Por- 
tuguese in their houses. It seemed best for Mr. 
Hewitson to retire from the scene for a little while. 
But he felt that he must get his class through a 
good course of study. He toiled hard. In three 
weeks eighty -seven Portuguese took the sacrament. 
There were hundreds — yes thousands — ready to 
listen to the word of God, but the hoof of oppression 
kept them down. 

One cheering fact occurred, just when the enemy 
seemed to be most mighty. '^ A few minutes ago," 
he wrote, '' I have heard of a wicked man's conver- 
sion. His wife called to ask me to visit the house." 
That man had been one of the chief tools of the 
angry priests, in carrying on their work of violence. 
This gave more of an impulse to priestly rage, while 
it made it the more sad for the young missionary to 
retire from the field. 



THE YOUNG MISSIONARY. 75 

He left Madeira in May 1846, Intending to 
return after a few months. With a bounding heart 
he soon exclaimed, "Again I am on British 
ground !'* Toward Madeira his thoughts often 
turned. He heard how his flock were being scat- 
tered by the storm. " Ah ! the tidings from Ma- 
deira," he writes, " are truly sad. The dear people, 
hunted like wild beasts on the mountains by their 
savage foes, and forced on the resource of emigra- 
tion, as the only means of escape from the dreadful 
alternative of relapse into Popery, or of suffering, 
it may be in many cases to death. One man brut- 
ally murdered ! Several women beaten almost to 
death ! Popery would exterminate grace itself 
from the earth if it could !" 

Of Mr. Hewitson's labours. Dr. Kalley wrote : 
*^ He has been a source of incalculable good to 
Madeira. I feel myself to be very much a hewer 
of wood or drawer of water." 



76 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA- 



CHAPTER VII. 

LAWLESS VIOLENCE — ENGLISH LADIES MOBBED. 

The Misses Rutherford were English ladies re- 
siding in a quiet part of Funchal. They occupied 
a summer residence called the " Quinta das Angus- 
tias." One of them was an invalid, unable to leave 
the house. A Miss Clarke acted as her nurse. A 
young Portuguese lady, an orphan, a convert, and 
a teacher, was also one of the family. 

The Misses Rutherford were known to be Protes- 
tants, and friends to the Bible-readers. They had 
allowed some of the Portuguese women to come and 
hear the Bible read in their house. They had been 
" helpers in the gospel.'' It was resolved by their 
spies and foes, that they should be driven from the 
island. All treaties for protecting English residents 
were disregarded, and even when the British consul 
ought to have shielded them from harm, nothing 
was done. They were exposed to the rage of a 
mob. 

On a Sabbath morning, August 2nd, 1846, a com- 
pany of thirty or forty worshippers of God met in 
the "Quinta das Angustias.'' They met on this 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 77 

holy day to sing praises, offer prayers, read the 
Bible, and hear a letter from Mr. Hewitson their 
pastor, then absent in Scotland. The worship was 
conducted by Mr. Da Silva, a man of influence and 
learning, who had left all and followed Jesus. 

During these hours a mob was collecting. It 
was not headed by a drunken outlaw, but by a canon 
of the church, an officer who assisted the Bishop in 
his labours, and was one of his counsellors. He 
was a Jesuit. Educated in England, he had seen 
something of what power the Bible had over the 
people. He had, no doubt, come from the Cathe- 
dra] that very hour, with his robes upon him, and 
was now mustering a ruffian rabble to attack the 
peaceable worshippers in the Quinta. 

The meeting heard Mr. Hewitson's letter with 
deep interest. It was like one of his rich sermons. 
A few words from it would do us good. 

" I remember you every day in my prayers before 
God, giving thanks to him who called you out of 
darkness into his marvellous light. 

"Life, light, salvation, the hope of glory, all 
spiritual and eternal blessings, are found in Christ 
Jesus our Lord ; neither can they be found any- 
where else. Christ is the storehouse of all the 
heavenly goods ; Christ is the treasurer of all the 
riches of divine goodness ; Christ is the fountain 
from which rivers of living waters are always flow- 
ing ; Christ is the Sun of the highest heavens, which 
scatters and throws all the ravs of divine wisdom 
7* 



78 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

and knowledge both among the angels above and 
the believers below. Whatever blessing you need, 
seek from Christ Jesus. 

" If ye depart from Jesus, ye are poor, miserable, 
blind, and naked ; ye have nothing. Coming to 
Jesus, ye become partakers of his riches, his white 
robes, his light, his wisdom, happiness, joy, grace, 
and love ; his kingdom and glory. Come therefore 
nearer to Jesus, and never leave ofif living and walk- 
ing with him. Be very close to his pierced side. 
Hide yourselves within his heart. Bathe your souls 
in the waves of his eternal love. 

" If you do not trust in Christ only, you cannot 
be saved. If you trust in your tears, prayers, 
works, persecutions, or tribulations, you are certain- 
ly wrong, and walk far from the way of salvation. 
Such things are not Christ — such things are not 
your Saviour. Do not trust in them, but only in 
Christ. 

" It is good to shed tears of sadness, thinking on 
your sins ; but shed them looking to Christ crucified. 
It is good to pray; and to pray more and more 
earnestly ; but you ought to pray trusting only in 
the merits of Christ. It is good to do the good 
works of faith and love ; it is good to increase more 
and more in fortitude, charity, purity, and meekness; 
but see that you don't put any confidence in your 
own works. It is good, if necessary, to suffer per- 
secution, shame, and death itself, for the sake of the 
name of Jesus. But we ought always to remember, 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 79 

that it la not for the sake of our personal sorrow 
and suffering, but only for the sake of the sufferings 
which Christ endured, that we are saved. 

" If we have Christ, we have all ; without Christ, 
we have nothing. You can be happy without money, 
without liberty, without parents, and without friends, 
if Christ is yours. If you have not Christ, neither 
money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor friends, can 
make you happy. Christ with a chain is liberty ; 
liberty without Christ is a chain. Christ without 
anything is riches ; all things without Christ are 
poverty indeed." 

Tears must have fallen from the eyes of these 
devoted Christians, so soon to be persecuted. The 
meeting was held until after twelve o'clock. As 
these refreshed worshippers were about to retire, a 
mob appeared at the gate. The Jesuit Canon Telles 
was heard shouting defiance and revenge. Other 
priests were with him. 

Mr. Da Silva went first to the gate. The canon 
instantly thrust an image in his face, and bade him 
^' kiss it" and " adore his God !" Da Silva calmly 
replied, ''Why do you interfere with a peaceable 
citizen ?" The canon then abused him, with the 
names of ''heretic, renegade, apostate," and other 
insults. But the good elder, " when he was reviled, 
reviled not again." 

The canon then knocked off his hat in a violent 
manner, and urged on the mob. Da Silva, after 
such ill-treatment, managed to escape, and three or 



80 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

four others with him. One young man was so brut- 
ally attacked that he retreated into the house. The 
rest were compelled to remain within doors. The 
English ladies could not think of forcing them to 
leave the premises. The house was besieged through 
all the afternoon. 

Dr. Kalley came in the afternoon to visit the 
sick in the Quinta. He knew nothing of the mob 
until he rode up to the gate. As he was told that 
the sick English lady was in need of medical aid, 
he felt that he must go in, though the mob should 
rage the more. Voices hooted at him, called him 
abusive names, threatened him, and shook their 
fists and their clubs. When he came back he was 
threatened again, and his groom was violently 
beaten. The mob declared that they would kill him 
if he dared to follow the doctor. He therefore ran 
home, struck with fear and horror, reporting that 
he had left his master in the midst of a murderous 
mob. The doctor mounted his horse, and rode 
through the crowd in the street, and some hats were 
lifted in respect for him, and some voices were 
heard saying, that it was an outrage to reward him 
in such a way for doing good. 

The mob would probably have disb^-nded and gone 
away, had not Canon Telles and the priests been 
determined not to abandon the ground. They went 
about through the crowd, adding oil to their burning 
fury. The police were there, but they did not dis- 
perse the rioters. No law was read, forbidding such 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 81 

outrages. The scenes that followed during that 
night of violence are best described by quoting the 
words of an eye witness, Lieut. J. R. Tate, in the 
British service : 

*' Having heard, late in the afternoon, of the 
painful situation in which the Misses Rutherford 
were placed by the threatening attitude of the mob, 
I rode down to the Angustias, with a view to afford 
them any protection, counsel, or comfort in my 
power, as well as to watch the further motions of 
the people. I arrived at half-past six, when I found 
that the police had been withdrawn. The canon, 
however, with various other priests, was on the 
ground, and an unusual number of persons were 
walking and talking in the neighbourhood. I ac- 
cordingly resolved upon returning at ten, and re- 
maining in the house during the night, should my 
presence be required by the ladies under the cir- 
cumstances in which they were placed. Soon after 
ten I returned, at which time Conego Telles was seen 
in the road, with a crowd of people talking in groups 
around the gate. Through them I was permitted 
to ride in quietly, but not, as \se afterwards discov- 
ered, without much consultation on the subject 
amongst the ringleaders of the mob. Being out on 
the balcony about eleven o'clock, when the silvery 
moon was shining peacefully through the trellis of 
the verandah, and all nature quietly reposing in the 
solemn stillness of the night, the sound of human 
voices warned us that the mob had come within the 



82 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

gates. We now perceived a number of men armed 
"with bludgeons standing at the front door, and at 
once warned them off the grounds. 

" Miss Rutherford addressed them in Portuguese, 
using every argument to induce them to retire. She 
reminded them that their appearance thereat such an 
hour, and in such an attitude, was contrary to all 
law, while their conduct was seriously endangering 
the life of an invalid lady. She cautioned them to 
beware of illegal proceedings ; she told them that 
they might surround the house and wait for daylight, 
or send for the police if they suspected there was 
any criminal within ; for to the police, with a legal 
warrant, she would open the door the instant the 
sun was up. The people were at the same time 
assured that the case would be represented in the 
morning to her Britannic Majesty's representative 
at Funchal. 

" To this they replied that ' they did not care for 
the English consul' — ' there was no law for the 
Calvinists' — and ' they could appeal to the gover- 
nor.'* ' They had a right, they said,' ' to do what 
they liked, and all the Portuguese in that house 
should die.' They then insisted on immediate 
entrance, or that the Portuguese should be delivered 
up to their vengeance. Both were, of course, re- 
fused, when they declared their intention to force 
their way ; with the threat that if they did so every 

* The subsequent conduct of the governor fully confirmed the 
ideas the ruffians had been led to form of him. 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 83 

soul they found within should die. A low whistle 
was given by the ringleaders, which was immediate- 
ly answered by a further rush of men, who now 
amounted to fifty or sixty, armed with clubs and 
bludgeons. Seeing all remonstrance vain, that the 
people were partially intoxicated by liquor, and 
were now planting their comrades in all directions 
round the Quinta, we retired from the balcony into 
the house, shutting and bolting the windows as we 
went. Having done this, we repaired to the chamber 
of the invalid, and committed ourselves unreserved- 
ly to the care of Him who alone could overrule the 
will of his enemies, and make the wrath of man to 
praise him. 

" In a short time the smashing of the windows, 
and crash of the bludgeons on the door, announced 
that the money and liquor of the enemy were fear- 
fully doing their work."^ 

" Amidst the yells of the mob, the cry was still 
heard for admittance ; when Miss Rutherford again 
addressed them in that calm, gentle, temperate, yet 
firm and dignified manner which distinguished her 
conduct through the night. One of the ringleaders 

* '* The money paid on this occasion was in small sums of 3 bits 
(fifteen pence) and upwards. This I have from relatives of those 
who actually received payment. That paid to the ringleaders on the 
occasion of the outrage on Dr. Kalley's residence was in much 
greater sums — large subscriptions having, I was given to understand, 
been raised among the priests and men of property.'^ Rev, Mr. 
Morton. 



84 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

desired her to speak in English,* bat she answered 
that ' she spoke not for his ear only, but for those 
of all that were present.' She then, in the most 
courteous way begged them to withdraw, urging the 
danger they were incurring by so acting in violation 
of the law. ' There are no laws for Calvinists,' was 
the instant reply, showing that the impression pro- 
duced by the long preceding course of authorized 
persecution was, that Christians were outlawed by 
the fact of being readers of the word of God, with 
a further threat, that if the doors were not immedi- 
ately opened they would burn the house to the 
ground ! 

" Another smash of windows followed, and one of 
the mob called out aloud, ' You had better retire or 
I'll kill you.' Miss Rutherford sprang back, and 
a huge stone fell upon the spot which she had occu- 
pied but the moment before. The smashing at the 
door was now resumed with fearful violence, and 
repeated at short intervals. As each blow fell upon 
the windows and resounded through the house, a 
shudder passed over the invalid's weakly frame. 
And though I am sure there was hardly a thought 
of self within her, yet so deep was the sympathy 
evinced for her suffering sisters in Christ, that we 
expected every moment would have severed the 
spirit from the body, and called it from a stormy 
world to ' where the wicked cease from troubling, 
and the weary are at rest.' Each crash seemed 

* So that the mob would not understand her plea. 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 85 

like an electric shock, pervading every nerve ; so 
true is it that ' we, being many, are one body in 
Christ, and every one members one of another/ 
Thus when ' one member suffers, all the members 
suffer with it.' 1 Cor. xii. 26. 

" Meanwhile Miss Rutherford and Clarke, her En- 
glish maid, were exerting themselves to conceal the 
poor Christians from the anticipated murderous 
attack. They consisted almost exclusively of women ; 
of harmless, quiet, inoffensive females ! But they 
were Protestants — they had not been to mass, nor 
had they lately paid the fees of confession. And so 
their sex was no protection from the bludgeon of 
the ruflSan ! They were marked out by the priest- 
hood for vengeance, and the end was to justify the 
means. For their greater security they were hurried 
into the kitchen, at the remote end of the house ; 
that being the apartment likely to be last reached 
by the assailants, and from which there was a stair- 
door down to the garden. All but a poor blind 
man were shut in here ; and he, perhaps the happiest 
of the party, was put under a bed in a spare room, 
over which some dresses were carelessly thrown to 
conceal him from view. He was told that there 
was no help but in his God, and that he must plead 
with him to put out his arm and save him. 

" We also commended the whole of our party to the 

care of our heavenly Father, praying that he would 

be to each of us individually a very present help in 

this our time of trouble ; that he would teach us ta 

8 



86 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

pray, that lie would help our unbelief and confirm our 
faith ; and above all, that he would uphold us, so that 
not one of our number, for any pains of death, should 
fall from him. The seats were then removed from 
the room in which the meeting had been held. 
Bibles and bonnets were put out of the way, so that 
no additional cause for excitement might inflame the 
rabble as they entered. Still crash succeeded crash, 
and blow succeeded blow ! 

" What a contrast, thought T, between those with- 
out and those within the house ! Here was peace 
and confidence ; there violence and hatred. Here 
was the voice of Him who is love itself, and who had 
permitted the storm to rise, whispering into each 
one's ear, ' It is I ; be not afraid ; my grace is suf- 
ficient for thee :' there was the voice of Satan urg- 
ing on his slaves to deeds of darkness and of blood. 
Here, in a word, was Christ ; there was anti-Christ. 
Here the seed of the woman ; there the seed of the 
serpent. Alas, how true ! it was not against their 
countrymen as men that their hatred, their rage, 
their violence had been raised, for many of those 
had come from the country, and were personally 
unknown. It was not against them, but against 
* Christ in them.' It was Jesus whom they perse- 
cuted. After a few more crushing blows, the door 
of the house flew open. Still none dared enter. 
Portuguese cowardice, ready enough to attack the 
helpless, aged female, and the blind, shrank from 
encountering an unknown danger in the dark. The 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 87 

ruffians sent for lights, which they made ' little boys' 
carry in their front ! They then searched every 
room in the lower part of the house, but in vain. 
Their victims were not there. 

*' Soon after midnight, just as arrangements were 
completed above, lights were distinguished on the 
staircase, and almost immediately they entered the 
drawing-room. Oflf this room was the invalid's 
chamber, and thither the rioters directed their course. 
Six or eight of the ruffians, preceded by boys 
carrying lights, flashing in their faces, daringly en- 
tered the room and demanded the Portuguese ; plac- 
ing by this act of reckless cruelty, the life of a de- 
fenceless invalid lady, guiltless of crime, in the most 
imminent danger. They were informed that the 
Portuguese were not there, and would not be given 
up ; and desired, moreover, not to come farther into 
the sick lady's room. They whispered together for 
a few minutes, (every moment of which must have 
been an agony to the ladies,) and then went grum- 
bling and muttering away. A guard being left in 
the drawing-room, they proceeded in search of their 
victims ; a rather tedious process by the way, in a 
house with twenty bedrooms and six sitting rooms, 
besides a chapel and closets of all kinds. 

"At length we heard the yell of triumph. The 
victims had been found. Resistance was not thought 
of, but they were all on their knees in prayer to 
God. One was seized — his head laid open to the 
bone, and himself thrown over the banisters to the 



88 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

ground. Here the mob was beating him with clubs 
and dragging him out to be murdered in the garden, 
^for it is a less crime/ said they, ' to kill him there.' 
At the very moment of opening the door by which 
to drag out their intended victim, the police and 
soldiers entered, thus catching them in the very act 
of outrage, and intended murder in a British sub- 
ject's house. The mob was asked by what authority 
they had entered that house, to which they replied 
that ' they did not care for authority or law.' Two 
of the ruflBans were then secured, marched off, and 
lodged in jail. 

" The rest fled through the house, making the 
ladies fancy for a moment that either the poor 
victims were rushing to us for shelter, or that the 
villains were returning to add us to the number of 
their prey. We soon discovered that the police 
were in possession of the kitchen, and taking our 
party under their charge, they conducted them in 
safety to their homes. No sooner had the invalid 
heard of the safety of Christ's little flock, than nature 
showed herself completely exhausted. The spirit 
indeed was strong, but the flesh was weak. She 
fell into a state of complete insensibility, from which 
she had not recovered when I left the house in the 
morning. The noise had, it appeared, been heard 
in the town, but no force was in readiness to quell 
the disturbance ; or in ten minutes they might have 
reached the Angustias. The two policemen who 
heard the noise were insufficient to face a mob ; they 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 89 

hurried off, therefore, for military aid. Thus, not 
the foresight of the magistrate, nor the vigilance of 
the government, but the length of time spent in 
searching the house, and the native cowardice of 
the Portuguese, were instrumental in the hands of 
an all-wise and all-merciful Providence, towards 
bringing deliverance to his persecuted, but not for- 
saken ones. 

^'In the morning, at the request of Miss Ruther- 
ford, I officially reported the outrage to the consul, 
* in order that he might take such steps as he might 
be pleased to think the case demanded as represen- 
tative of the British crown.' I also begged him to 
adopt such measures as might be necessary to pro- 
tect British life and property from any repetition 
of violence, the door being so smashed in that any 
one could enter the premises at pleasure. This 
letter I delivered in person, but soon found how 
little we had to expect either in sympathy or assis- 
tance at the hands of the representative of British 
majesty. The subject was treated with the greatest 
coldness and indifference. More regret was ex- 
pressed at the meeting of a few Protestants for prayer 
and praise in the morning, than indignation at the 
violation of British rights and honour, and the 
danger to which the lives of British subjects were 
exposed at the hands of a lawless mob at night. 
Although I looked, and still look at the outrage as 
an affair to be judged of wholly irrespective of the 
meeting or any other circumstance whatever, I 



90 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

ventured to assure the consul that not a word had, 
at that meeting of friends, been uttered against the 
religion of the state, which alone, according to Por- 
tuguese interpretation of the law, could make such a 
meeting illegal. 

" Besides, I added, had all the laws of Portugal 
been broken. Miss Rutherford was amenable to those 
laws, and to those laws only, and till tried and con- 
demned by them, was surely entitled to protection 
from her country. She should not be given over to 
the tender mercies of a Romish priest and his reck- 
less mob. The consul admitted that the outrage 
was unjustifiable ; and he ' hoped,' and ' trusted,' 
and ' felt assured' that the offenders would be 
punished. I suggested that in my humble opinion 
the British government, in a case of such gross vio- 
lation of British property, &c., was entitled to demand 
that active measures should be taken by the au- 
thorities for the arrest of the offenders ; or, at least, 
that due punishment should be ensured to the two 
persons captured on the previous night under cir- 
cumstances that could admit of no kind of doubt as 
to their guilt. 

'' So far, however, from this being likely to follow, 
I told him that no authority of any kind had been 
near the scene of outrage ; nor, so far as I could see, 
were any steps being taken for the furtherance of 
the ends of justice. The consul stated, in reply, 
that it was a case for the courts of law, and not for 
him to interfere in ! I then asked the consul as to 



LAWLESS VIOLENCE. 91 

the protection which the Misses Rutherford might 
expect to their lives and property during the night ; 
when (will the reader believe me when I say ?) the 
representative of Great Britain referred them to the 
office of police ! ' The head of police would, he had 
no doubt, provide them with a sufficient force !' '* 

^' Such outrages were committed on the 2nd of 
August, 1846. Neither the British consul nor the 
Portuguese authorities made any efforts to prevent 
their repetition. The leaders of the mob well un- 
derstood the disposition of the authorities, and were 
encouraged in their work. 

"Such, I may add, were some of the consequences 
directly arising from the breach of the peace by a 
canon of the cathedral church of Funchal, Carlos 
Telles de Menezes, a dignitary of the church of 
Rome ! ! !" 



92 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA, 



CHAPTER VIII- 

NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 

The enemies now found how far they might dare 
to go in deeds of violence. They need fear nothing 
from the governor, nor police, nor British consul. 
It was in the power of the governor and consul to 
restore order. A resolute word from them would 
have put the rioters in fear. They were solemnly 
bound by their oaths of office to protect all whose 
lives and property were assailed. British Protest- 
ants could claim the protection of all they had, by 
the treaty between England and Portugal. It was 
said expressly — " Their dwelling houses, warehouses, 
and everything belonging thereto, shall be respected, 
and shall not be subjected to any arbitrary visits 
of search." It also secured them the right to wor- 
ship God without any opposition. 

The one man against whom the malice was strong- 
est, was Dr. Kalley. It was determined to attack 
him very soon. Through the week, after the attack 
on the Quinta das Angustias, he was often insulted. 
His name was called aloud in the streets, and he 
was threatened. The cries of " Calvinistas/* (Cal- 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 93 

vinists,) and "Kallistas," (Kalleyites,) were very 
loud in reproach of the Protestants. Large com- 
panies of men marched through the city declaring 
that all Protestants, foreign and native, should be 
destroyed. 

Miss Rutherford, before leaving the island, asked 
such protection as even an enemy would give, if 
there were any mercy for the defenceless and the 
sick. But it was refused. From the head of the 
police she received the following message : 

" That he (the police magistrate) would not con- 
tinue to protect Miss Rutherford's house so long as 
Portuguese were admitted to hold divine worship, or 
any that had been known to assemble themselves 
together were permitted to frequent the place.'' And 
he further required from her a promise in writing 
*' that no meeting should be held in her house.'' To 
this impudent and daring threat Miss Rutherford 
replied by stating to the consul her thorough con- 
viction that no Portuguese law prohibited such 
meetings, in which nothing was said against the re- 
ligion of the state. At the same time, as protection 
was otherwise refused to the lives and property of 
herself and family, she requested him to give such 
promise in her name, if he considered the giving of, 
such a promise " extorted by threats," and which no 
law and no treaty gave the magistrate any right to 
prescribe, was compatible with the honour of the 
British nation. If not, she demanded protection 
from him. She was the more earnest because her 



94 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

friends thought that her sick sister could not endure 
the removal from the house. 

No such protection was granted, but she was 
ordered to remove as soon as possible. The threats 
against these innocent ladies, and the kind-hearted 
Dr. Kalley, became more fierce during the week. 
Knives were packed away in a house near the 
Quinta das Angustias. The rioters were spying out 
the Christians. One of the leaders was heard to 
say, " If Dr. Kalley escapes this time, he must be 
the devil !" 

A letter was addressed by Dr. Kalley to the police 
magistrate, informing him of the facts of the case. 
The bearer of the letter was seized in the street, by 
some " gentlemen," as they were called, and beateu 
severely, so that he was forced to give up the letter. 
Dr. Kalley then wrote to the governor a statement 
of the facts. 

The governor, in a very insulting letter, replied, 
that the British residents on the island were looked 
upon with ^'mistrust and disgust," and that the 
disturbance " was the fruit of the tree he had planted 
on the island, and it could produce nothing but dis- 
cord and trouble !" Just so the apostles were falsely 
accused of having turned the world upside down ! 

To this insulting letter Dr. Kalley sent a manly, 
respectful, and Christian reply. He recited the 
events of the previous Sabbath, and said : " The 
authorities are not ignorant of the facts. They 
are notorious to your excellency, to the public 



NARROW ES€APE OF DR. KALLEY. 95 

prosecutor, to the British consul, and to the whole 
population of Funchal. The actual state of the 
house speaks volumes, but not one of the authorities, 
either British or Portuguese, has yet looked near it. 
The criminals are not unknown — two of them were 
in the power of the authorities — actually in prison 
— and were set at liberty ! Why does the public 
prosecutor not raise an action against those guilty 
of so public an outrage, unless it be true that the 
authorities do not choose to repress the disturbances 
by the punishment of the offenders ? 

^'Houses have been broken into, and the inmates 
beaten nearly to death. Other houses have been 
set on fire at midnight, and burned to the ground, 
and the authorities have not given any public de- 
monstration of disapproval. Not one of the crim- 
inals has been punished ; and when ruffians are 
arrested by the police * in flagrante,' in a British 
subject's house, they are forthwith set at liberty. 
The assailants are released — the assailed are im- 
prisoned and condemned in virtue of laws, respect- 
ing which the judge, in the very sentence, declared 
that they are abolished. 

"Further the master of police dares to refuse 
protection to British life, and British property, ex- 
cept on condition of British subjects making promises 
which no law and no treaty ever conveyed to him 
any right to exact ; and for the want of energetic 
interference, the residence of British citizens is ac- 
tually placed in a state of siege. 



96 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

"If the authorities choose to proceed in such a 
way, the verdict of the world as to the cause of the 
disturbances cannot be doubtful. The attempt of 
the authorities to throw the blame upon others, will 
only serve to remind the world of Nero, blaming the 
Christians for the burning of Rome. 

"A large loose rock, on the steep side of a hill, 
may be easily kept in its place as long as it is at 
rest ; but once in motion, how terrific its course, as 
it sweeps and bounds impetuously down the mountain 
side, bearing destruction along with it ! Who can 
arrest it? So it is with the power of a hiwless 
mob." 

Like the apostle Paul, when falsely accused, he 
referred to his past life in proof that he was aiming 
to secure the best interests of men. " My aim has 
uniformly been to promote the health, comfort and 
happiness of the Madeirans, as far as is in my 
power. I have never taught anything at variance 
with the doctrines, that men have one Father, the 
living and true God, that we are all brethren, and 
that our common Father commands all his children 
to love one another, not in word only but in deed 
and truth. 

" I have never taught a syllable at variance with 
the glorious truth, that when we had all offended 
that most gracious Father, and deserved the doom he 
had denounced, a Friend from heaven — a partner with 
the Father in his throne — loved us, died for us, re- 
deemed us with his blood, and thus laid us under 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 97 

still more powerful obligation to love our Lord — to 
love one another — to love all men, even our enemies ; 
and such doctrines are diametrically opposed to all 
disturbance, injustice, and crime. 

" I am bold to say, that my conduct, and that of 
those who hold similar religious sentiments, has 
never been such as to give any reason to suppose 
that, in my creed, I approve of any kind of moral 
evil. No one has ever dared to charge me with 
teaching any man to defraud or injure his fellow- 
man. Amid all the disturbances that ever occurred 
at Madeira, there never was an instance in which 
those who agree with me in my religious views, were 
the aggressors ; and among innumerable cases of un- 
provoked, atrocious cruelty practised against them, 
they have never, with one exception been charged 
with striking a blow, even in self-defence ; for they 
have learned of Him, who was meek and lowly of 
heart — who, when he was reviled, reviled not again 
— when he suffered, he threatened not, but com- 
mitted himself to Him who judgeth righteously. I 
feel, therefore, most fully borne out in repudiating 
the charge which your excellency has brought against 
me, as the cause of the disturbances referred to ; 
and am convinced that, on an extensive, unprejudiced 
investigation of facts, your excellency will exonerate 
me from the charge." 

The governor was now as silent as the police 
magistrate had been. Dr. Kalley then wrote to the 
British consul, whose name we now withhold, lest it 
9 



98 THE EXILES OP MADEIRA. 

shame some honest and brave man that bears the 
same good-sounding name. In this he said, 

" The rioters must feel that the conduct of all the 
authorities implies an approbation of their proceed- 
ings, inferior only to the issuing of an edict, or the 
offering of a reward for their perpetration ; and they 
are accordingly becoming daily bolder, so that on 
the night of the 5th instant, and last night, their 
threats were such that from sixty to eighty individ- 
uals felt themselves obliged to flee from their houses 
for their lives, and spend the night in the moun- 
tains. 

''I have received warning from various Portuguese 
gentlemen, that the rioters threaten to attack my 
house, and two or more other British houses within 
the next eight days ; and as your inattention with 
respect to Miss Rutherford's case has favored the 
presumption that our government will not interfere, 
whatever atrocities be committed upon us, it seems 
highly probable that an attack will be made. 

" From the conduct displayed towards the Misses 
E-utherford, (who had broken no laws, and, if they 
had, should have been tried by the law, and not 
left to the mercy of an infuriated mob,) and towards 
the rioters ; it is impossible to regard the authorities 
otherwise than as, at the very least, conniving at 
the outrage, and therefore responsible for all the 
results. 

" If you, in your official capacity, do not demand 
the adoption of such measures as shall effectually 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 99 

secure British subjects against the repetition of such 
atrocities, I am convinced that my life and property 
will be in danger; and if, from your non-interfer- 
ence, similar atrocities be again perpetrated, our 
country will justly look to you as responsible for 
them all. 

" I believe it is intended that an attack shall be 
made on other places, at the same time as upon my 
house, so as to afford a pretence for no aid, under 
the plea that the police were occupied elsewhere.'* 

Saturday came, and the signs were plenty, that 
the mob intended an attack on Sabbath, just one 
week after the exploits of Canon Telles in attacking 
the house of some innocent ladies. Dr. Kalley sent 
this message to the consul : 

" 9>tJi of August, — For several days the vocifera- 
tions, threats, and abuse uttered by the lower orders, 
when passing my house, have been incessant ; and 
of such a nature as to be disgraceful to a country 
professing to be civilized. They are never inter- 
fered with. Every one who goes out, or in to my 
house, is assailed with a volley of abuse, whatever 
be their religious opinions ; and during the last night 
my family was repeatedly alarmed by parties bat- 
tering at my door with sticks. 

''2nd P. S. — JSToon. I enclose an anonymous 
letter just put into my hands, which I beg you will 
return to me.* I must repeat that I am fully con- 

* The anonymous letter contained a correct programme of what 
was planned for the next day, in mobbing Dr. Kalley in his own 



100 . THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

vinced that this comes of liberating the prisoners, 
and other conduct of the authorities ; and if ener- 
getic measures be not instantly adopted, I shall feel 
myself obliged to deliver up the key of my property 
to you for protection, as I cannot, with a couple of 
servants, defend it against a mob." 

Dr. Kalley began the work of turning his dwell- 
ing into a fort. Two ruflSans disguised as towns- 
men came and stationed themselves at the door, 
watching all that passed. About six o'clock on 
Saturday evening, ten or twelve soldiers marched 
up as a guard to the house, and were posted in a 
cottage at the entrance of the grounds. Dr. Kalley 
asked them if they knew why these threats were 
made against him. They replied that " they fan- 
cied it was because he was opposed to the saints.'' He 
told them that this was a great mistake, for instead 
of being opposed to them, it was his greatest aim 
and wish to be one of the happy number. The 
person in charge of the guard then added, ''Well, I 
don't know, but the authorities think these things 
have lasted long enough." 

" From these ominous words, and from preceding 
events, the doctor felt assured, writes an eye witness, 
that the authorities would be in no hurry to come 
to his protection, and, therefore, returned to finish 
the barricading of the house by every additional 

house. And yet the consul did nothing ! Yes, he did go the next 
day and look on the scene of violence against one of his own coun- 
trymen I 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 101 

means that he could contrive. In the meantime five 
or six of the soldiers kept watch at the gates, whilst 
their comrades remained in the cottage. 

''At ten o'clock, a friend of Dr. Kalley's acci- 
dentally met a boy returning from Santa Luzia, with 
a load of iron bolts, which he knew had been ordered 
for the barricading of his house. He accordingly 
stopped the lad, and on enquiring the reason of his 
not delivering them at the doctor's house, was told, 
'that he could not gain admittance, and that the 
soldiers had said they were not required !' The 
doctor's friend then accompanied the boy back to 
the house, and assisted the doctor in completing his 
work. 

"About two in the morning, all had been done 
that seemed possible in the way of defence, and as 
Dr. Kalley's friend was leaving, the doctor accom- 
panied him to the outer gate. Providentially, on 
reaching it, they overheard the guard in a familiar 
conversation with men, either masked, or with their 
faces blackened ; one of w^hom was sharpening a 
large knife on the door lintel, preparatory, as he 
said in Portuomese, to the ' killino- on the morrow !' 
When several had gathered together, they further 
heard them consulting as to whether they should go 
in then — the soldiers being still in their company. 
One said, ' No, there will be plenty of time for all 
to-morrow.' Another, ' Nay, but let us go in now^;' 
and the gate moved a little on its hinges. Now 
this had been left shut, so that it could not have 
9 "^ 



102 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

been opened but from within ; and when found 
open, it was evident that the soldiers were traitors,* 
and had come from the cottage and opened it. A 
female servant was near, and when she saw it move, 
she instantly shut it with all her force ; and having 
the key with him, the doctor locked it. Convinced 
of the treachery of his guard, and that he had now 
no longer any security to his life, he returned with 
his friend into the house, to consult as to what should 
be done. After committing themselves to God in 
prayer, and casting all their care upon Him who 
' careth' for his people, they felt satisfied that the 
most prudent course was to withdraw from the house. 
Dr. Kalley therefore disguised himself, as hurriedly 
as possible in the country dress of a peasant, and 
stealthily and silently withdrew. 

" It was a glorious moonlight night, — too clear to 
be favourable for his escape, but there was no time 
for delay. He passed through his own grounds as 
cautiously as if he had been a thief, and fearing as 
much to meet a ruffian there, as, in other circum- 
stances, a ruffian would have been to meet the right- 
ful owner ! Having reached the boundary, he 
looked carefully round ; but seeing no watch on this 

* " The soldiers were well aware that what was about to happen 
was both agreeable to the government, and encouraged by the 
priests ; and, therefore their present conduct and bearing to the 
leaders of the mob. Had they been called upon to act on the morrow 
by their officers — or that night instructed by their superiors to do 
their duty, I cannot doubt that, as soldiers, they would have un- 
hesitatingly have done so." 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 103 

side of his property, he descended the wall, to creep 
along the vineyards in his front. What a spectacle 
was here presented ! The best and kindest friend 
that had ever visited Madeira — he that had spent 
eight long years in active exertions to benefit her 
people — who had been by night and by day minis- 
tering to their wants, at the bedside of their sick 
and their dying, and had been the means, under 
Providence, of restoring thousands of them to health 
and strength : — was now leaving his home, at dead 
of night, unattended and alone. He was fleeing 
for his life ! The stars were shining in beauty 
above — the mountains rising in noble grandeur on 
his right ; rich vineyards lay before him, and on his 
left appeared, over the city, the calm, placid, silvery 
ocean. 

" All was still. The winds were hushed. It was 
the Lord's day morning. No sound broke the 
sacred stillness of that hour. All contrasted fear- 
fully with the tempest which the demons of supersti- 
tion and persecution had raised in the hearts of 
some of that deluded people ! Having descended a 
little way, the sound of voices broke upon his ear, 
and fearing it might be a watch of enemies, he 
turned aside. But after a few more alarms especially 
from meeting people in the way, and from the watch- 
dogs of the peasants, he reached the Pinheiros in 
safety, the Quinta in which I was residing with my 
invalid sister and mother. This was a little after 
three o'clock. He leapt the wall, gently tapped, 



104 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

and was received by those within with fervent grat- 
titude for his escape from the assassins who sought 
his life. With deep anxiety had the attention of 
all in the Pinheiros been directed, for nights past, 
to the residence which he had now been compelled 
to desert ; and our eyes had been intently fixed on 
the spot, almost to the moment when Dr. Kalley 
made his appearance in person.* 

'' In the home which he had left there were hearts 
beating anxiously for him ; and we lost not a moment 
in exhibiting the appointed signal of his safe arrival. 
This being seen, the rest of the inmates of the house 
consulted for their personal safety. An old and 
faithful servant buried the silver plate — a few im- 
portant documents were secured, and they left the 
dwelling where the ignorant had been instructed, 
the mourner comforted, the sick attended, and anxious 
trembling sinners directed to the blood that ' clean- 
se th from all sin,' but against which the leaders of 
the misguided people had now threatened to direct 
their rage. 

''While the family escaped by the back way, 
through vineyards and fields, as the doctor had 
done before, the friend who had been with them 
during the night returned through the front door, 
leaving, as it would seem to the treacherous guard, 

"* Our cook had visited Santa Luzia early in the evening, and he 
had reported the very suspicious appearance of a number of ** bad 
men/' in the neighbourhood of the doctor's house. The threats, too, 
were so open, that we were continually dreading an attack," 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 105 

the whole party quietly within. It was now near 
the break of day, and crowds were pouring up the 
mount road to the Festa, which had just begun. 
Soon after daylight I was up, and not a little startled 
at the sight of the doctor's groom, who, remember- 
ing probably the military outrage at the Serra, had 
fled from his master's house as soon as the guard ap- 
peared, and taken refuge in our stable. Fearing 
that his being seen would serve to throw suspicion 
on his master's retreat, I asked him a few questions 
as to the time and circumstances of his leaving on 
the previous evening. And having thus lulled the 
suspicions of our own servants, if any existed, I re- 
commended him quickly to seek a place of safety, 
which he at once consented to do.* Thus was Dr. 
Kalley in a place of shelter, unknown to a single 
native in the island. 

" It was now high time for Dr. Miller (Dr. Kalley 's 
brother-in-law) and myself to be acting. We felt 
assured that the threatened attack would take place 
at the appointed hour ; but were thankful that we 
had a British consul and a British flag that must be 
degraded and trampled upon, ere a British subject's 
residence, rendered sacred by treaty, could be 
openly outraged under the Sabbath's noon-day sun. 
We hastened, therefore, to the consulate for the 
purpose of reporting the events of the night, and 

* He returned, however, as I afterwards discovered, to the stable, 
aud I subsequently took hiin off in a hammock to the *^ William," of 
Glasgow, disguised as a woman. 



106 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

requesting the consul to hoist the union of England 
over the property of Dr. Kalley. The reader may 
imagine our utter amazement when we found that 
in spite of all the warnings he had received, all the 
details of the plot with which he had been furnished, 
the very hour of the attack being known to him, the 
British consul had actually gone away to his coun-" 
try seat, without any probability of his return to 
Funchal ! ! 

" The Quinta dos Pinheiros, to which the doctor 
fled commands an excellent view of Santa Luzia, 
his residence. Dr. Kalley had, therefore, an op- 
portunity of watching from the windows the motions 
of the people below ; and who can tell with what 
thrilling anxiety he must have gazed in the direc- 
tion of his now deserted residence ? Ten o'clock 
came, and all was quiet ; the soldiers kept watch, 
and the intending assailants, who had their spies 
in all quarters of the town, thought that their vic- 
tims were safe within. Half-past ten o'clock struck ; 
still no unhallowed sound was heard reverberating 
there. 

" It was a glorious Sabbath morning. The sun had 
risen, and was shining in a blaze of golden light ; 
the sky was cloudless — the earth lovely, every vine- 
yard around us being clustered with grapes, scattered 
by a heavenly Friend. But though the wild roar 
of furious men was not yet heard, they were gather- 
ing from among these vineyards to perpetrate, in 
the name of that God, a God of love, justice, and 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 107 

truth, outrage, cruelty, and it might be murder ! 
The only subject of conversation in the streets 
seemed to be the intended proceedings of the day ; 
and Mrs. Kalley, when escaping in disguise, over- 
heard persons say — ' Those who are in that house, 
would need to-day, to be sure of salvation.' 

^'Eleven o'clock struck, and still there was a 
pause. Then was heard a rocket hissing through 
the air. A little pause, and a second followed ; and 
there began a hum of human voices, which soon 
rose into wild bursts, like ocean's billows in their 
angriest mood. It sounded nearer and nearer ; still 
the Quinta and grounds were quiet. Another 
moment and a dense mass of human beings emerged 
from among the trees, and were seen surrounding 
the house. There was one wild roar and then a 
silence. They retreated, and a faint hope arose 
that the soldiers would do their duty. But no : the 
silence was again broken ; the people were not 
mistaken, the approval of the authorities was indeed 
real, and the work of the instigator of the riots, 
who had, I understand, himself enjoyed the charitable 
advice and medicines of Dr. Kalley, was commenced 
in earnest. 

" Sledge-hammers and clubs were soon in requisi- 
tion. The ruffians worked hard, and the door was 
forced. A tremendous yell arose, then disappoint- 
ment and confusion. They had expected that the 
doctor would be dragged out to satiate their infuri- 
ated passions. But no ; he was not found ! During 



108 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

all this time the governor and the police magistrate 
were present, with a guard of soldiers ; and there 
they remained while the house was being attacked, 
broken into, and ransacked ; seemingly, as was re- 
marked by a gentleman who passed at the time, 
more as a guard to see the work of devastation well 
done, than for anything else. 

" The consul arrived in the midst of the work of 
destruction, and seeing that nothing but force could 
restrain the mob, pressed the governor to ' fire, as 
it was a case where it was necessary to sacrifice 
life/ But this the governor refused to do. Guns 
were, indeed, heard in the distance ; but it was at 
the festival of ' Our Lady.' The corps of country- 
police, which had, on former occasions, been called 
out to prevent people from going to the doctor's 
house to listen to the sacred Scriptures, were not 
now called out to save his life. The militia, though 
called to attend, and fire in honour of the Festa of 
' Our Lady of the Mount,' were not in requisition 
when the lives and property of British subjects were 
in danger. Nothing effectual was attempted by the 
governor, who had at his command all the force of 
the island. Who, then, can fail to see that the 
presence of that functionary and the military, at 
Dr. Kalley's house, was a most pitiful farce ? Nay, 
it was more than a farce — it was an insult to the 
British nation. 

" Disappointed of human sacrifices, the ruffians 
seized upon the doctor's valuable library, manu- 



NARRCvr ESCAPE OF DR. K ALLEY. 109 

scripts, and other papers ; and those w'hich were not 
reserved for their priestly employers, were, amidst 
fiendish yells of delight, cast into the road in front 
of the house, thrashed with clubs, and afterwards 
burnt. The sacred Scriptures were the objects of 
especial hatred, and were all consigned, without re- 
serve, to the clubs and to the flames." 

As there was now no security either for property 
or life. Dr. Kalley's friends resolved to convey him 
secretly and in disguise to a British vessel. For 
this purpose, a hammock was obtained, but they 
had much difficulty in securing bearers. Finally 
they succeded. 

''Dr. Kalley was quickly disguised in female 
attire, put into the hammock, and covered over (as 
invalid ladies are when being carried in Madeira) with 
a linen sheet. Soon we had fairly started on our 
perilous journey, not wavering in doubt, but strong 
in faith and prayer ; knowing that He that was for 
us was greater than any host that might be arrayed 
against us. At first one of the bearers refused to 
carry any one whose face he did not previously see ; 
but his objection was fortunately overruled by the 
servant of the consul. 

" About a hundred yards from the entrance of 
the Pinheiros two men were on the watch at that 
point of the road which is crossed by the Levado, 
and from which our course diverged to the left. 
This was the first danger we encountered ; but, put- 
ting on a bold face, we advanced towards the spies. 
10 



110 ^ THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

A suspicious glance was directed at myself, the 
bearers, and the hammock ; but as we appeared to 
be going away from those parts that would have led 
them to suspect the hammock's contents, we were 
allowed to pass on without molestation. 

'' Before we had gone far the end of the sheet 
was lifted by one of the bearers and an inquisitive 
look directed within. I then handed into the ham- 
mock a bottle of eau-de-cologne, which I carried in 
my hand to dispel suspicion. In a little time ex- 
pressions were heard indicative that ' it was no lady 
they were carrying.' Still we proceeded on our 
long, circuitous journey, passing, ever and anon, 
little groups of curious people, talking over the 
affairs of the day and gazing on the dense column 
of smoke rising from Dr. Kalley's burning library, 
&c., the papers from which were falling around us. 

''By and by we descended towards the town, and 
the bearer who had lifted the sheet exclaimed, ' It 
was hell for him, he could not go any farther ;' and he 
stopped and laid down the hammock. The moment 
was a critical one ; but as the weather was truly 
oppressive (for we had come under a burning sun) 
even to one unencumbered with the weight of a 
hammock, I did not oppose their resting awhile. I 
then gently pressed them to proceed, and in a few 
minutes we were passing the deanery. Three 
several times did they thus lay down, and as often 
were they induced to resume their burden, each 
time pressing earnestly to know whither they were 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. Ill 

going. This was a question that could be answered 
only at the risk of our lives. I mentioned, there- 
fore, the name of a street close to the pier from 
which we were to embark, and by which it was ne- 
cessary to pass. We were now fairly in the heart 
of the town, and expressions were more than once 
heard, 'It is he.' 

*' We passed the convent of Santa Clara, and the 
consul's servant declared he could not go a step 
further and would not. It was a trying position, 
and things were becoming imminent, for the mob, 
having failed in obtaining possession of Dr. Kal- 
ley's person at Santa Luzia, had assembled in front 
of the consulate, where as I have already said his 
wife and brother-in-law's family had previously 
taken refuge. Here they insisted that Dr. Kalley 
was secreted, and loudly demanded his person. 
While thus engaged in insulting the British flag, 
and on the very point of breaking into the official 
residence of our consul, a party of soldiers sent by 
Colonel Teixeira was drawn up in front of the con- 
sulate. 

"From the steps of St. Peter's another bearer 
was procured, but the cry had just been raised, 
' There's the consul's servant ; that must be Dr. 
Kalley.' We hurried past the Franciscan convent 
and the castle onwards to the beach, while the cry 
of ' Kalley !' ' Kalley !' was being carried from 
street to street till it reached the British consulate, 
xhree loud fiendish cheers, and the living mass 



112 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

swept impetuously towards the pier, diverted from 
the siege of the consulate to the far more exciting 
search for the doctor's person. At length we 
reached the pier, the boat was in readiness, the 
hammock put on board and we were launched upon 
the ocean. I turned round and the whole beach 
teemed with living beings. What a change had a 
moment produced in our condition and in theirs ! 
But a moment earlier and we had surely been sac- 
rificed to the fury of the mob. We were now out 
of danger — we were beyond the murderers* grasp !" 

The little boat with its precious charge was 
rapidly rowed towards the steamer. Only those 
who sufier persecution for Christ, know how exciting 
such an hour must be. Angry voices from other 
boats were heard asking who was in the hammock. 
The boatmen seem to have thought " it was a sick 
lady who was going to the West Indies.'' No one 
of the Christians said it was a sick lady; they 
merely kept quiet and passed on. 

When the little boat came alongside of the 
steamer, Lieut. Tate mounted the deck, and asked 
the captain to take the hammock on board. 
*' Awful disease," " Quarantine," thought the captain 
at first. He hesitated. But the mysterious story 
was soon told, and it drew forth his true generosity 
and hearty welcome. Dr. Kalley was now on 
board an English ship. Soon after Mrs. Kalley 
and a native attendant were on board the vessel. 
This was Dr. Kalley's earthly reward, for showing 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 113 

himself the best friend of Madeira that ever landed 
on her shores ; the best friend of the people ; — "the 
man who had consecrated time, talent, property, 
and life itself to promote their best temporal and 
spiritual welfare. Not only he and his family were 
obliged to flee, but his library, valued at $10,000, 
was reduced to ashes.'' 

The British Consul had laid aside the ofl5cial 
dress, and had taken down the flag from flying over 
his house, signifying English protection ! The 
consular uniform should not be seen, and the flag 
should be furled in the lockers at an hour when 
they ought to have been used to save English life and 
property. England was not to blame, but she was 
insulted by her own consul, who went about in a 
" sailor's round jacket !" Name not the man I 

The consul went to the mob which was still raging 
at Dr. Kalley's burning house, and told them that 
he had escaped, and had gone on board an English 
vessel. But they would not believe this, unless 
they could see him. So the obliging consul went 
to the shore with them and asked that Dr. Kalley 
would show himself! This was an insult. The 
consul plead that, if this was not done, he would be 
suspected of harbouring Dr. Kalley in his house, and 
it would be set on fire. It would gratify him, and 
satisfy the mob if he would grant them an ocular de- 
monstration. Dr. Kalley consented to this in- 
dignity because he feared his dear friends would be 

burned alive in their houses, or murdered in trying 
10* 



114 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

to flee from them. It was too late to use any more 
hammocks in carrying away disguised persons. 

There were officers of the government ready to put 
down these riots. They had some respect for life, 
for property, for rights, and for the treaty between 
nations. They came to the Governor and police- 
magistrate who were present at the work of destruc- 
tion ! '' The officer of the guard frequently asked 
permission of the head of police to disperse the 
mob, but was told on no account to do so ! Colonel 
Teixeira, the military commandant, knowing what 
was going on at Dr. Kalley's house, and having re- 
ceived no requisition for more troops than a small 
guard, proceeded in person to the scene of plunder, 
told the civil authorities that he had field pieces and 
plenty of troops ready for action, and asked per- 
mission to bring them up. He was informed there 
was no need whatever for them." 

We see then what the Romanists are ready to do 
on Sabbath, when there are Christians to be driven 
away, and when there are no civil laws to hinder 
them from riots. Two Sabbaths had been dese- 
crated in the most bold and violent manner. One 
week was not enough to spend in this wicked work. 
The fury was still kept hot by the priests. No 
Christian, no Bible-reader, was allowed to be safe 
in the city, or any of the towns of the island. 

On the next day after Dr. Kalley's flight, many 
other English residents were forced to leave their 
homes. The sick were treated without mercy. 



NARROW ESCAPE OF DR. KALLEY. 115 

Eleven such families were insulted and threatened. 
One English gentleman, who helped his friends to 
get safely away on ships, was threatened with mur- 
der and obliged to flee. It would not do to help 
any one to remain safe on the island, nor to help 
any one to flee away ! One British lady died after 
reaching a vessel in the harbour, from the violence 
to which she, in her sickness, was exposed; others 
came near losing life through fatigue and alarm. 

The native Bible-readers w-ere severely perse- 
cuted. Their houses were broken into and plun- 
dered, their steps were watched by spies, and they 
were driven by hundreds into the mountains, and 
hunted down, like sheep upon an island of wolves. 

"It is truly heart-rending," wrote one of the 
English residents, " to hear of their sufl'erings. 
When discovered in their hiding places, they are 
mercilessly beaten, to extort a promise that they 
will go to confession. A few days ago a man was 
most brutally murdered, and several women have 
sustained injuries from which they are not expected 
to recover.'' They were faithful to their Saviour, 
and remembered that, by faith, men of olden times 
endured fire and sword, even death for Christ. 

There was no protection for Protestants on shore. 
A placard was put on the governor's palace de- 
manding that Protestants should leave the island on 
that week, and stating that four thousand men 
would come for the answer of the government on 
next Sabbath. 



116 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Not many years before, during the reign of ter- 
ror under Don Miguel, one of the proscribed per- 
sons took refuge under the flag of a foreign consul. 
He was safe there, though he did not dare to leave 
his room for many months. But he was not a Bi- 
ble-reader! No Bible-reader could be allowed the 
protection of a foreign flag, and the worst of our 
shame is that an English consul should even deny 
the use of his -waving banner. 



THE "WILLIAM OF GLASGOW.'* 117 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ^'WILLIAM OF GLASGOW." 

The converts and Bible-readers were now called 
to enter the seven-times-heated furnace. Fire at 
home, the cudgel in the streets, the treachery of 
priests, starvation in the mountains ; all these 
threatened them. They were persecuted on every 
side. Their neighbours, who still adhered to the 
Roman church, the priests and the police were con- 
stantly on the alert to arrest them. They were 
forbidden to read the Scriptures, or to pray to- 
gether in their own dwellings. Every copy of the 
word of God on which the priests could lay their 
hands was immediately committed to the flames. 
But thanks be to God, the Bibles were not all de- 
stroyed. Some enclosed their Bibles in small boxes 
and buried them in the earth. Others opened a 
place in the stone wall of the house, put in the Bi- 
ble, and then plastered over it. And others 
wrapped them in cloth and hung them in trees of 
very thick foliage. In such ways as ingenuity and 
piety could suggest, we are assured by those who know, 
that at least fifty Bibles and three hundred New 



118 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Testaments were preserved from the destroyer and 
are now on the island. From time to time there 
has been a resurrection of those Bibles that were 
buried during the violence of the persecution. The 
fruits of "the seed of the kingdom" will, we trust, 
yet be seen in Madeira. 

Every night some new act of violence and cruelty 
was committed. The vineyards of Protestants were 
trodden down, and their property destroyed. They 
were hated by men, because they loved Christ. There 
was no human law for them, because they were de- 
termined to obey the laws of God. There was no 
earthly home for them, because they were seeking 
the Father's house in heaven. They were praising 
God in the mountains, or seeking refuge on English 
ships. Guns were often fired from these ships, to 
let the persecuted people know that they might find 
a welcome on their decks. 

The ''William of Glasgow" was anchored in the 
bay of Funchal, ready to take on board as many of 
the Protestants as could find room. Twelve English 
refugees were on board. One of them who knew 
much of the fury of the mob, thus wrote to Mr. 
Hewitson : '' This ship is to take away two hundred 
of your flock to Trinidad. Seventy are already on 
board. The sound of the hymns is very sweet, as 
it rises from the hold. It is a great privilege to be 
near them in this time of need, and to see that their 
faith does not fail. They never speak against their 
persecutors — they only mention them with pity. 



THE ^^ WILLIAM OF GLASGOW.'' Il9 

Sometimes I overhear them in prayer, praying for 
their enemies, and for those who have turned back 
again to the houses of idolatry. They have all 
been in hidings on the mountains, and many of 
them have nothing left but the clothes they wear." 
We quote a longer account of these exiles. It was 
written by one on board the ship William. 

" They soon heard that the ship William had re- 
ceived on board those who sympathized in their 
cruel suflFerings. And the very first night after we 
embarked, several of the poor persecuted ones were 
safely treading the deck of the William. It was a 
truly interesting sight to see the boat sweep along- 
side, doubtful at the moment whom it might contain ; 
then to see one after another mounting the side of 
the ship — casting a wistful eye around, lest perchance 
they might have missed the looked-for vessel ; to 
witness the afi*ectionate meeting, as they caught the 
eye, and afterwards the hand, of a well known 
sympathizing friend. It was most affecting to see 
the tear of joy, the look of gratitude, that beamed 
in the face of each poor sufferer as he first set foot 
upon an English deck, and once more breathed the 
air of freedom and of liberty. 

" It rejoiced the heart to see the tear of gladness — 
to hear the prayer of intercession for their enemies, 
and the hymns of praise and gratitude from night 
to night, as their numbers increased, and they now 
flocked in crowds to seek amongst strangers that 
shelter which their countrymen refused them. Old 



120 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

and young, strong and infirm, girls and women with 
children at their breasts — all hurried to the William, 
knowing that here were hearts beating with tender 
affection for Christ's suffering flock. 

'' I wish I could recount the marvellous escapes 
of some through the brushwood of the mountains, 
while their enemies were in full pursuit — the hair- 
breadth escape of others, who left their homes at 
midnight, and never were permitted to enter them 
again — who left them to the robber and the plun- 
derer, and never found shelter more, till they found 
it in the William of Glasgow. I have a letter before 
me from one who, writing from Trinidad, speaks 
thus of her wanderings in the mountains of Ma- 
deira : — 

'' ' I cannot narrate in writing the afflictions we 
suffered, nor even by word of mouth could I tell 
them. I can only say we fled from our home on 
Saturday night, and wandered fugitives for thirteen 
days. But God in his mercy sent us a ship one day 
after the sad 9th of August, to deliver his children 
from the fangs of their enemies, and from the snares 
of the devil. We cannot give the thanks due to 
God for his mercy towards us. God fulfilled his 
word : — " When thou passest through the waters, I 
will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall 
not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the 
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee." Isaiah xliii. 2.' 

"Every night added to the list of native con- 



THE "WILLIAM OF GLASGOW.'' 121 

verts rescued from the assassins' grasp. But all 
did not escape so well. On the morning of the 9th, 
the day of attack on Dr. Kalley's house, the nephew 
of a poor woman, who had jiist been obliged to fly 
from the house, was found at the door, as the rufiians 
came to attack it. He was but twelve years old, 
but his youth was no protection. He was knocked 
down and violently beaten, receiving a dreadful 
blow in the head, which for a considerable time con- 
fined him to the hospital. On the same day a poor 
old woman was dreadfully beaten, and the mob, 
supposing her dead, dragged the body to the spot 
where two of the converts had been buried on the 
public road.* There they laid her upon the grave. 
She remained in this state a considerable time, and 
was then carried to the hospital ; but having refused 
to attend confession, on which terms only she was 
offered her life, she was cast out to perish. She 
was afterwards taken in again, and notwithstanding 
one arm was broken, and her whole body a mass of 

* *' As if it was not sufficient for the church of Rome to be continu- 
ally persecuting the converts to Gospel truth, she denies, in direct 
violation of the laws of Portugal, their very bodies sepulture in the 
only legal cemetery, and decrees that they be buried in the public 
roads. Scarcely twelve months since the authorities of Madeira, not 
content with ordering a Protestant's body to be thus buried in the 
public road, insisted on its being buried in front of his own door, in 
order that the family might daily step over it. Happily the rock 
prevented the accomplishment of this iniquitous design, and he now 
lies on one side of the door. Verily * the righteous perisheth, and no 
man laveth it to heart.* Isaiah Ivii. 1." 

ii 



122 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

bruises, recovered, and sailed in the Lord Seaton 
for Trinidad. 

'' Poor Mariasinha ! hers was one of the most fiery 
of all the trials of those stormy days. Canon Telles 
attacked her again and again, and the most fearful 
threatenings were employed to force her to confession. 
She was five weeks alone amongst her enemies ; 
speaking of which time subsequently to a Christian 
friend, she shuddered, as she thought of the blas- 
phemies she had heard from the lips of the 
other invalids, and from the attendants. May her 
patience, and her strong and simple faith have been 
blessed as a lesson to some one among them ! It is 
interesting to tell how this poor one of the flock, 
weak both in mind and body, was made strong to 
witness a good profession in the hour of trial. 
During this conversation, which the English lady 
declared to be a solemn lesson to her, she said : 
' Much had been forgiven her, and truly she loved 
much.' 

'' Another woman was treated in a similar way 
some days later, and shortly after, a man was bar- 
barously murdered in open day by five or six rufiians, 
who, not content with having murdered him, jumped 
and stamped, like fiends, over the mutilated remains. 
For this murder four men were committed to prison, 
and during the week a jail delivery was everywhere 
spoken of, as the work of the coming Sunday. On 
the Saturday preceding, being the eve of the great 
Mount Festa, the city was filled with strangers, At 



THE ^^ WILLIAM OF GLASGOW.'* 123 

intervals during the day two English ships, lying 
next to us, fired their guns, to show the people, as 
the captain remarked, that afloat, at least, the 
English could and would protect themselves. This 
I believe, gave great ofl*ence to the Portuguese au- 
thorities ; but there is no doubt the eflFect on the 
people was good. 

" The military officers, ashamed of the scandalous 
affair of last Sunday, met together in their quarters, 
and resolved amongst themselves to put down all 
attempts at disturbance, independently of any re- 
quisition from the civil authorities ; ' seeing,* as they 
said, ' that the administrator of the council had lost 
the public confidence, and had been the promoter 
(as they were ready to prove, if the inquiry were 
proceeded with) of all the disorder, in concert with 
the Canon Telles and other priests;' and a message 
to this effect was sent to the governor. Throughout 
the week some very clever and ludicrous squibs were 
posted in different parts of the town, and it was the 
constant work of the police to search them out, and 
pull them down. Some caricatures also appeared, 
in which certain public characters were by no means 
spared.* On Sunday, the 16th of August, a good 
many boats were pulling and sailing about our 
vessel, with insulting parties on board, singing songs 
afyainst " the Calvinists,'' and in one we recomized 

^ Some wag fixed, among other papers, on the door of the British 
cottsulate— ^' To let, with immediate possession.^' '^Furniture for sale, 
the occupier being about to leave the island/' &c* 



124 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

the boys who held the lights before the ruffians on 
the night of the Angustias outrage, as they entered 
the invalid's chamber. Crowds of people were in 
the town from all parts of the island. Upwards of 
two hundred assembled, as on the previous Sunday, 
in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, armed with 
bludgeons ; but on hearing of the determination of 
the military, and not meeting with their friend the 
police magistrate, as they had done before, dispersed^ 
or rather went in search of the native converts in 
the country, fearing that an attack on the jail would 
only meet with certain defeat and loss. The two 
neighbouring ships continued firing their guns at 
intervals throughout the day, for which, I believe, 
they incurred the penalty of a consular reprimand. 

" The William had now received on board all the 
converts she could accommodate, and, as it was im- 
possible for these poor persecuted ones, either to 
appear on shore, or to satisfy the priests' demands, 
it was necessary that something should be done to 
remove the difficulties of procuring their passports. 
A deputation accordingly waited on the governor, 
and obtained from him a dispensation as to personal 
application, and also as to the certificates of church 
attendance, which are always insisted on before a 
passport is given. So glad were the authorities at 
this time to sacrifice any consideration to allay the 
fever which they had themselves excited." 

Thus did the great Head of the Church prepare 
the way for the flight of his people from their native 



THE "WILLIAM OF GLASGOW/' 125 

country ! What a company was this ! What a 
spectacle for the 19th century ! Parents and chil- 
dren, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, are 
separated from each other. Among these tender, 
natural, and social relations, some are persecutors on 
shore, and others are fugitives on the vessel. Who 
can tell the agony of these persecuted disciples 
about to leave their country and friends for ever ? 
What were their feelings, when they thought of the 
darkness, delusion, and bigotry in which their 
relatives were involved ; — when they anticipated 
that their next meeting would be at the judgment- 
seat of Christ, and especially when they thought of 
the destiny of those who persecute the children of 
God? 

The day of their departure arrived. What a day 
for them ! Alas ! What a day for Madeira ! It 
seems as though the Gospel was to be taken away 
from that infatuated people ; it looks like the de- 
parture of the Saviour from their coasts ; it reminds 
us of his declaration to the bigoted priests and 
Pharisees who despised and rejected him ; " I go 
my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your 
sins; whither I go, ye cannot come." But our 
prayer is, that they may not be abandoned to their 
delusions. May the light of the glorious Gospel yet 
shine upon them, and may they yet rejoice in that 
light! 

" On Sunday, the 23rd of August, the William 

loosed her sails, and slowly and beautifully glided 
11^^ 



126 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

out of the bay of Funchal. There was something of 
deep solemnity about her every motion — carrying, as 
she was, two hundred Christians from the land of 
their fathers, to seek a refuge in a land of strangers. 
Most of this large party had left their homes at 
night, and could not, without risking their lives, 
return to their ruined cottages to collect any little 
property that might be left. Many of them came 
on board with nothing but the clothes they had on, 
and these in tatters from their wanderings in the 
Serras. Yet during the days we sojourned among 
them in that ark of refuge, not a word of repining 
reached our ears, except from one or two unconverted 
members of large families, who had not yet learned 
to love the cause for which the rest rejoiced to suffer. 
The language of all the others was that of joy and 
thankfulness to Him who had called them ' out of 
darkness into his marvellous light;' 1 Peter ii. 9 ; and 
who had now in his mercy delivered them from their 
enemies on every side, and gathered them together 
in one family, and into one refuge. 

"The more that was seen of this persecuted 
flock, in circumstances the most trying, the higher 
did their Christian principle rise in the estimation 
of all. Those only who know the general character 
of the Portuguese can form a just estimate of the 
total change that must have passed on these con- 
verts. They had become ' new creatures' indeed. 
In the distribution of clothes to the necessitous, 
Matthew v. 44, it was most gratifying to witness 



THE ^^ WILLIAM OF GLASGOW." 127 

the good feeling shown by all on the occasion — to 
see not merely their willingness to share with one 
another the bounty of their Christian friends, but 
their eagerness to tell of the wants of others more 
destitute than themselves. And in no one instance 
was there an attempt to deceive, by any conceal- 
ment of what they possessed. The mate and steward 
both repeatedly remarked, ' that they had never 
seen folk love one another as these folk did.* 

''Among the two hundred and eleven passengers 
of the William, there was one Romanist family, 
who had long persecuted the converts, and was now 
seeking a passage to Trinidad as emigrants. Their 
extreme poverty excited the compassion of those 
around them. After the converts had each received 
from the hand of charity their small supply of 
clofhing, some of them came aft to their benefac- 
tors on the ship, and begged to know if they might 
now consider it as their own property, and act ac- 
cordingly. They were asked the reason of the 
question, when they said, it was their wish to obey 
the Lord's command — 'Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them which despitefully use you and 
persecute you.' They were cheerfully assured that 
they might, and it was pleasing to see them share 
their scanty store with their former enemies ; thus 
affording a most beautiful specimen of the spirit by 
which they were animated. 



128 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

'' Their conduct throughout was such that the 
Romanists openly expressed their wonder and as- 
tonishment. They saw those who had little prop- 
erties, (and there were both land and householders 
in the William's band of Christians,) parting with 
their houses and land, and all they possessed, for 
the smallest trifle, counting ' all things but loss, for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
our Lord/ Philippians iii. 8. One Portuguese gen- 
tleman, talking on the subject, wound up by saying, 
that ' if he were called upon to choose a religion 
suddenly, and without further thought, he believed 
he should fix upon that of these people, because he 
saw them suffer without complaining/ 

"As was their conduct under persecution on 
shore, so was their conduct afloat. They had chosen 
Christ, and the only subject of their glorying was 
the Lord Jesus. They looked not back upon the 
world with all its pleasures. From it, and from 
self, they had been weaned by the Spirit of that 
God who had been their friend through evil report, 
and through good report ; who had been more than 
a brother to them, in sorrow and in joy, by day 
and by night, at all seasons, and in all circum- 
stances. They knew that He, who had thus watched 
over them, would not desert them in the land to 
which they were now being driven before the perse- 
cuting hand of man. Christ, when on earth, said 
to his disciples, ' When they persecute you in this 



THE "WILLIAM OF GLASGOW." 12J> 

city, flee ye into another.'* The Christian's king- 
dom is not of this world : his kingdom is a kingdom 
set up by the God of heaven. It is a kingdom 
which shall, in God's own good time, break in pieces 
and consume ' all other kingdoms, but shall itself 
stand for ever.' 

"Rather than sacrifice one's inheritance in that 
kingdom, it were well to flee, during a whole life- 
time, from city to city, or from one land to another^ 
however severe the trials, however great the earthly 
losses, however cruel the personal suSerings. ' The 
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant 
above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to be 
as his master, and the servant as his lord.' ^If we 
suffer, we shall also reign with him.' 

" And now why was all this grievous persecution 
carried on against that little flock ? Were they 
traitors to their country ? There were none more 
loyal. Were they disturbers of the peace ? None were 
more peaceful. Never perhaps were the members 
of any church more 'likeminded one toward an- 

* " Matthew x. 23. After reading, in the simplicity of their faith, 
the words, * if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you,' 
John XV, 20, and *when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into 
another,' they felt that they must suffer persecution, as God had said 
so. And after talking together on the subject, they applied to a 
Christian friend as to what they should do when persecution came, for 
they could not flee to other cities, unless God were to open a way 
for them through the sea. His answer, delivered four years before, 
they now called to mind, * if persecution should come to Madeira, 
God would also send ships to deliver those who keep his word, as 
surely as he delivered the Israelites from the power of Pharaoh.' " 



130 THE EXILES OV MADEIRA. 

other, according to Christ Jesus/ Rom. xv. 5, than 
the little flock at Madeira. Never was there 
simpler faith, simpler hope, simpler love. Shining 
as lights ' in the midst of a crooked and perverse 
nation,' they held 'forth the word of life;' Phil. ii. 
15, 16 ; constantly provoking each other to love and 
good works. Their humility, gentleness, guileless 
simplicity, and burning love, were seen and acknow- 
ledged by their most bitter enemies. Like the 
meek, who shall inherit the earth, they would fain 
have been suffered quietly to delight themselves in 
the abundance of peace. As followers of the 
Prince of Peace, they were peaceable and peace- 
makers. They desired peace with God, peace with 
man, peace at home, peace abroad. But peace was 
not to be purchased at the expense of principle. 
' The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then 
peaceable.' James iii. 17. To appease the enemies 
of Jesus, they would not cease to read and obey 
the word of God. And this was the sum and ground 
of their offence. They would obey the injunction 
of their Saviour, to ' search the Scriptures,' and 
learn of him, instead of subjecting their minds 
and will to the guidance and thraldom of their fel- 
low sinners, who in vain were serving God, ' teach- 
ing for doctrines the commandments of men.' " 

In the ship William there were about two hundred 
of these exiles, and soon after this, the Lord Seaton 
took about the same number. 



A LOOK BACK AT MADEIRA. 131 



CHAPTER X. 

A LOOK BACK AT MADEIRA. 

Why did not these outrages on British life and 
property provoke a war on the part of England ? 
It probably would have done so, had not steps been 
taken to prevent such a calamity. 

^'When the tidings of these outrages reached 
Portugal, the British ambassador there, more faith- 
ful to his trust than the consul at Madeira, entered 
his solemn protest against these reckless and un- 
righteous proceedings. The Queen of Portugal was 
compelled by this act to appoint and send a royal 
commission to investigate the affairs at Madeira, 
especially with reference to the treatment of British 
subjects. 

" This commission came and made their investi- 
gations. In their view, the conduct of the govern- 
ment at Madeira was so unjustifiable that they re- 
quested the administration to resign. They all re- 
signed except the administrador do concelho. 

^' His dismission was immediately sent from Por- 
tugaL A new governor was appointed at Madeira. 



132 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

In this change there was a show of disapprobation 
on the part of the queen against those who had en- 
couraged and sanctioned this persecution by their 
silence and inaction. Whether this change was 
made by the queen with a conviction of wrong 
doing on the part of the authorities at Madeira, or 
w^hether it was effected through fear of British 
cannon, may be a question. 

"• There was also the external form of a trial of 
some of those who had been the most active and the 
most savage in this persecution. The result of this ap- 
pearance of justice was the acquittal of all the 
rioters. Even those who were arrested in the very 
act of murdering the Bible-readers, were acquitted. 
When the evidence of their guilt was too obvious to 
be denied, no penalty was inflicted. The leaders of 
the mob, such as Canon Telles, were not subjected 
even to the form of a trial. 

" The painful conclusion to which we are driven 
by these facts is, that the civil government and the 
courts of justice connived at these enormous crimes, 
and that the whole form of trial was a solemn 
mockery or a farce. '* 

Canon Telles was still active in his work of per- 
secution. He circulated a petition to the Queen of 
Portugal, begging her to issue a decree against the 
Protestants, or, as he wrote, " Against foreign mis- 
sionaries and their agents, foreign and native." It 
was like the request of the Gadarenes to Jesus, 
"that he would depart out of their coasts." As he 



A LOOK BACK AT MADEIRA. 133 

was not himself working for the gospel in Madeira, 
he could not say, '' Come over and help us." This 
petition was signed by one hundred and seventy- 
eight persons. Among the signers were the names 
of the civil governor, judges, public prosecutor, 
thirty-eight priests, and eighty-one relatives of the 
priests. This strange petition, we believe, was 
granted by the queen. 

The Bishop was not asleep. Nor was he sitting 
down behind the screen, laughing to see the work 
of death or banishment going on so well. He was 
active. He ordered that all young persons should 
be confirmed in the Romish Church as soon as pos- 
sible, and that all the islanders should come at 
once to mass and confession. If they did not 
obey, they should bo proceeded against for heresy 
and for apostasy, as Mrs. Alves had once been 
served. Death had been pronounced against her. 
Only one step more and the Bishop would have had 
the old Spanish Inquisition in all its power. 

This Bishop had left Madeira early in 1846, say- 
ing, in a pettish way, that he would not return until 
Dr. Kalley was driven from the island. It must be 
made more thoroughly Bomish, or he would not 
stay in it ! In fact, too many people were just 
making the great discovery that they could do 
without him. 

He returned in October after Dr. Kalley's expul- 
sion. He sat down to write a "pastoral letter." 
Now such letters are usually, among Protestants, of 

12 



134 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

a mild, persuasive character. They are the letters 
of pastors to their people. They are such as Mr. 
Hewitson wrote, full of love and christian sympathy. 
But how did the Bishop write ? 

He called the religion of Dr. Kalley " proud and 
Satanic philosophy ;*' " doctrines of yesterday, con- 
ceived in impiety, by caprice, and extracted from 
the dark bosom of Protestantism.'' Did he not re- 
member that Dr. Kalley had circulated the Bible which 
was proved to be the true word of God, and which 
did not differ in any important point from the one 
the Bishop ought to have kept in good use ? The 
Bishop was thus denouncing the word of God ! 

To the influence of these doctrines he ascribed 
the potato disease! blight of the vines! and all 
other calamities. This same charge has been laid 
to Protestants who lately left the Bomish Church 
under the labours of Bev. Mr. Chiniquy, in Illinois. 
The failure of the harvests, and the sickness, the 
want of money in the country, and all other tem- 
poral trials, were said by the Bomanists to be 
caused by the little colony of St. Anne, when they 
left the church that would not let them have the 
Bible. Our Lord did not think Bible reading to be 
such a sin ! No! it is his will that we ''give atten- 
tion to reading and sound doctrine," and "hold fast 
the form of sound words." 

The Bishop's zeal led him to pen the most singular 
expressions. " He speaks of the Divine aid and mercy 
in enabling them to drive away the heretics. He 



A LOOK BACK AT MADEIRA. 135 

says to his flock, that ' the Lord compassionating 
your troubled situation, condescended to excite and 
direct, by way of moderation and charity, (!) your 
purified religious zeal, (!) and natural energy ; and 
by an extraordinary mode, and perhaps strange in 
the eyes of the world, to snatch from the midst of 
this flock, already almost torn to pieces, that wolf 
from Scotland. Blessed be the God of mercies, 
and Father of all consolation, who thus conde- 
scended to succour us, and console us.' As an 
expression of their gratitude and joy, in view of 
the things that had been done, he orders that in all 
the churches they ' sing the hymn, Te Deum laud- 
amus.' 

" When the tidings of the Bartholomew massacre 
reached Rome, in 1572, and the Pope and cardi- 
nals marched to the church of St. Louis to give 
thanks unto God for the victory over the Protestants, 
then the Pope ordered the ' Te Deum laudamus' to 
be sung. What then is the diS*erence between po- 
pery in 1572 and in 1846 ? 

" May the daily prayers, ofi'ered by the converts 
from Madeira for the conversion of those who have 
cast them into prison, and driven them from their 
country, be graciously answered ; so that the final 
destiny of persecutors may not be theirs.'' 



136 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 



CHAPTER XI. 

ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 

" He not only belongs to that class who are to he in everlasting 
remembrance, but he is eminent among them." 

In" the most pleasant part of the chief city of 
Madeira dwelt the family of Da Silva. Arsenio 
Nicos was born in 1800. His father was a man of 
wealth and high esteem. The garden about his 
house was cultivated with so much taste that strangers 
upon the island visited it as one of the notable places. 
The rich variety of grapes, plants, and flowers, with 
the politeness of the family, made it a delightful 
resort. 

The Da Silvas were members of the Roman church, 
and believed in its rites and infallibility. They had 
taken for granted what the priest said, and had not 
searched the Scriptures to find whether they were 
taught the truth. They believed that the priests 
were the holiest and greatest of men : adored the 
Virgin Mary ; felt willing to kiss the Pope's toe ; 
almost shuddered when a Bishop passed by ; and no 
doubt they knew as little about the Latin mumbled 
over at mass, as we do in hearing it read by a priest. 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 137 

Among their children were two sons, Arsenio and 
Casimiro. These sons were carefully taught the 
rites of Romanism, the fear of a priest, and the 
worship of saints- They were every day presented 
before the image of the Virgin Mary, as if it could 
bless them, and she was entreated to watch over 
these children and make them priests of the church. 
Could Mary have spoken from heaven she would 
have said, ''Worship God," and pointed them to 
Him who said, " Suffer little children to come unto 
me." 

These sons were sent to the best schools on the 
island. No pains were spared to make them as learned 
as any of the priests ever become. They grew fond 
of books, and were very diligent in their studies. 
They received some oflSce in the church called 
" minor orders," and were reported to be ready for 
stud3dng the theology of the church. 

Thus far had they gone, but were unwilling to go 

any farther. They refused to become priests. They 

had eyes to see and ears to hear. They saw too 

much of the sins of the priests, and did not wish to 

be counted with such men. They perhaps had heard 

and read of those strange transactions of popes, 

cardinals, and priests, which once shocked a Luther 

and a Calvin. It may be that they learned in some 

way that there had been a great Reformation in the 

16th century, and wondered why the church in 

Madeira was not reformed. 

Their parents were astonished. They besought 
12* 



13B THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

them even with tears to remember how much their 
education had cost, how many prayers and vows 
had been made to the Virgin, how much honour 
they would have if they became priests, and how 
they might become Bishops and Cardinals ; but 
they did not care for such entreaties. The father- 
confessor could not persuade them to put on gowns 
and shave their heads. 

Casimiro loved money and lands, just as his 
parents had done before him. His mother thought 
she could touch that chord, and so she told him if he 
would become a priest he should have a large estate 
and be regarded by her as the favourite son. She 
held out the shining gold ! 

This appeal was very strong and went home to 
his heart. It touched the intended chord, and he 
felt the power of the music. He then began to feel 
a struggle between his love of gold, and his hatred 
of priests. He abhorred the vow of celibacy which 
he would be required to take ; but he also abhorred 
the loss of the riches which his mother promised. 
Methinks — for we Protestants may think — that if 
the Virgin had spoken to him she would have pointed 
him to her poor Son and her glorious Saviour. 

He yielded to the charm of riches. He became 
a priest. He did not believe in what he was obliged 
to do and say. He hated the oflSce and the church. 
His duties were a burden, and his soul was not at 
rest. A request was made by him to be released 
from the office. The "dispensation" was granted, 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 139 

and he took his money, settled down upon his estate, 
and is now, we suppose, living as a gentleman re- 
tired from office and business. 

Arsenio could not be induced to enter the priest- 
ly office. He had more stability of character, more 
intellect, and more principle than his brother. His 
conscience was not to be bought with gold or honour. 
Yet he was not a believer in religion. He knew 
only one form of religion, and that he knew was 
corrupt. He could not then see that Romanism 
was not Christianity, nor that Christianity was truly 
from God. He saw how foolish it was to worship 
the Virgin and other saints, but could not perceive 
how wise and happy it would be to believe and wor- 
ship Jesus Christ. 

He became a merchant. He was polite, pleasant, 
honest, and energetic, so that he soon had an exten- 
sive business. He made himself a large fortune, 
little knowing that one day he would gladly leave 
all and follow Christ. 

When about twenty-five years of age — when 
Hewitson was called the boy of a book, Arsenio 
married a young lady of a very wealthy family. 
She was gay, worldly, and by no means inclined to 
take the black veil in a nunnery. She was admired 
as very beautiful and highly accomplished. The 
friends all thought this a most happy union. One 
child smiled upon them to make home happy. They 
made this only daughter an idol in their hearts. 
They did all they could to make her as near a queea 



140 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

as possible. If she should live, she would one day 
be very rich, and they wished to see her well edu- 
cated, and adorned with every accomplishment their 
city could bestow. Her "god-mother'' was very 
rich, and had made a will leaving her immense wealth 
to this young lady. Perhaps too the bachelor uncle, 
who satisfied both his love of gold and his hatred of 
the priesthood, was supposed to have such a will in 
reserve for his beautiful niece. 

But God had other purposes. He had a legacy 
for that infidel father which only a Redeemer can 
give. She was to be a link in the chain of means 
which would bring her father to Christ. 

Disease crept slowly through her veins and hid 
itself there, only to work death the more perfectly. 
Perhaps she had not played enough in the sunny 
vineyards, or had studied too closely at school. The 
visions of her future looked toward the grave. 

The best physicians were called, but they could 
do little good. The Virgin Mary was invoked and 
she did still less. It is not her work to hear prayer 
or heal the sick. She is engaged in praising her 
Saviour in heaven. The young lady still declined, 
and the parents would give anything they had to 
restore her to health. It is a sad affliction for any 
parents to follow such a daughter to the grave. 

In 1840 Dr. Kalley had gained a great reputa- 
tion on the island as a skilful physician. Many 
came to consult him in very difficult and almost 
hopeless cases. His success had been remarkable. 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 141 

God seemed to bless him. The reader will remember 
the method he adopted to point all his patients to 
the Great Remedy for the soul. 

Da Silva was advised to send for the Scottish 
physician. No doubt he was ashamed to do so, but 
as a last resort for healing his beloved daughter, he 
consented to go and consult him. It reminds us of 
Naaman going to Elisha. He found Dr. Kalley 
very kind and ready to do all he could. As Dr. 
Kalley came near the rich house, many eyes were 
upon him. Even the servants exclaimed, " The 
Doctor ! the English Doctor !" 

He entered softly, sat down by the bedside of the 
young lady, and tenderly spoke of her sickness. 
He learned all he could about the cause. Then he 
prayed God to make him wise in prescribing the 
medicine, and to make it a means of healing. He 
also entreated the patient to look to Jesus as the 
great physician, who alone could restore her to 
health. No such physician had ever been in that 
house before. While they all wondered, he re- 
quested the parents to seek her recovery by prayer 
to Jesus Christ. 

Several visits were paid by Da Silva to Dr. Kal- 
ley. He saw his dear child recovering day by day. 
It seemed as if God was very merciful to him and 
his family. He one day asked that he might talk 
with the doctor at his own house privately. He 
came, and they sat down together. It seems that 
he had already heard Dr. Kalley preach on the 



142 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

need of a change in the sinner's heart and life, and 
he felt that he needed it more than all others. In 
his business he could not forget the ring of gospel 
words. The written word had become the voice 
from heaven. And now as he sat down he felt wil- 
ling to be as a little child. 

'' On what subject do you wish to speak ?" asked 
Dr. Kalley. 

" About the way in which a guilty man can, 
under the government of a just God, escape the 
punishment which he deserves." 

" Well, tell me what you think about it." 

" I understand that in baptism the death of 
Christ is so applied as to free from original sin ;" 
and then he went on to speak of penances and 
masses, and good works as atoning for actual trans- 
gressions. This is Romish doctrine. 

''I understand," said Dr. Kalley, interrupting 
him, " that the blood of Christ cleanses from all 
sin." 

"What?" cried Da Silva. 

'' I understand that the blood of Christ cleanses 
from all sin, of every kind." 

"Tell me that again!" 

"No: but here, read here, and here" — as the 
Doctor pointed out several texts in the Bible. The 
inquirer read, and great tears came coursing down 
his cheeks as his eye fell on the plain words of God 
which attested the wondrous truth. Then the light 
of the cross seemed to break in upon his soul. He 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 143 

could see why Christ died, and how he loved guilty 
sinners. He began to understand the doctrine of 
God's free favour in pardoning the lost and undone. 
He was wiser than Nicodemus, and more willing 
than Naaman. Now he could see why the doc- 
trines of the Bible produced such good effects on 
those who loved, believed, and practised them. 

We would gladly know more of what passed dur- 
ing that hour. He received then the first Bible he 
had ever read. Yes, he had been once prepared to 
study the theology of the priests, and yet had never 
read a Bible ! Remember Luther. 

Eagerly did he read the word of God ; gladly 
did he become a convert to its doctrines. Boldly 
did he defend it and the persecuted converts. 
Humbly did he bow to Jesus, praying, " Create in 
me a clean heart." Submissively did he yield to 
the Holy Ghost to renew and sanctify his heart. 
Willingly now would he sacrifice everything in this 
world to the Lord Jesus. His case reminds us of 
those who came first to Jesus to be healed, or to 
have a friend healed, and who went away believing 
in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Remember 
Mary Magdalene and blind Bartimeus. 

Dr. Kalley had heard him called '^o avarento,'' 
^Hhe miser.'' At this time the Doctor was trying 
to furnish a small hospital. Da Silva sent him a 
large basket full of sheets, towels, and other ar- 
ticles of comfort, and along with them a note, say- 
ing, " My heart was gangrened ; it has felt the 



144 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

power of the love of God ; and I send you the first 
fruits of it." Good fruits were these to help a 
"good Samaritan" in taking care of the poor and 
the sick, but these were only an earnest of what 
was to follow. No longer was he " the miser." 

Da Silva had heard strange things of this "father 
in Christ." The priests were obliged to admit that 
he was a skilful physician, but they said he was in 
league with Satan, to overturn the Romish Church. 
One of them called him "a devil incarnate," and 
hoped to see the day when he and his Bibles, and 
all who believed them would be burned together 
on the public square, in front of the Governor's 
house ! This priest must have known little of the 
Bible. 

Da Silva heard nothing like that from his new 
friend and brother, who wept with many tears, as 
he urged men to flee for refuge to Jesus, or prayed 
with deepest emotion for priests and people. He 
was ever ready when persecuted to give response in 
those words from the cross, " Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do !" This rich convert 
could see the difference between these preachers, 
and he too wept while hearing the truth spoken in 
love, or praying for his enemies. 

How different, too, were the Bible-readers from 
their opposers ! Even enemies were forced to say, 
" We call these people ugly names, but they don't 
answer back ; we spit upon them, but they don't get 
angry; we beat them, and they seem pleased; we 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 145 

break open their houses, and destroy their prop- 
erty, and they are happy; we put them in jail, and 
they sing; we can't make them unhappy!'' This 
might have been said at Philippi in the days of 
Paul and Silas. Da Silva could see the reason of 
this contrast. ' 

" Mrs. Da Silva, who had been persuaded by her 
husband to hear Dr. Kalley, when she saw the tears 
in his eyes, became very much troubled. She was 
afraid that the servants or the people would hear of 
the views Mr. Da Silva had of himself as a sinner, 
and they would think he was a very bad man. She 
had no doubt that her lord, (as ladies address their 
husbands in Madeira,) was a perfect gentleman, and 
ought not to be compared with those who had not 
noble blood in their veins. She thought he had 
mistaken his own character. 

" The Bible became the companion of Mr. Da 
Silva, and prayer his delight. He had not only 
felt that he was a lost and wretched sinner, justly 
condemned, but he had also experienced the power 
of faith in Jesus Christ. The doctrine of justifica- 
tion, only by faith, flashed upon his mind like light 
from heaven. This opened his eyes to see the 
awful state of those who sought salvation by virtue 
of their own works. This filled him with the 
deepest distress for the conversion of his wife, his 
daughter, and his blind countrymen. He poured 
out his heart in prayer to God for them. 

"Before his soul rejoiced in the full light of the 
13 



146 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Gospel, it is interesting to see how the Spirit of 
God enlightened his mind, and led him on from one 
degree of knowledge to another. When reading 
the Bible, he came to the Epistle of Peter ; he was 
delighted to find an epistle from that apostle. He 
was ignorant of its existence, up to the hour when 
his eye rested upon it. As he had always been 
taught that Peter was the supreme head of the 
church on earth, he supposed here, if anywhere, he 
would find the doctrines and ceremonies of the Ro- 
man Catholic church. After reading it again and 
again with the closest attention, he was surprised 
to learn that nothing resembling the mass, purga- 
tory, confession, praying to the saints and to 
the Virgin, as taught by the Romish church, was 
to be found in the writings of Peter. 

" The epistles of Peter would make an excellent 
tract to put into the hands of all Romanists who 
have a high respect for the authority and suprem- 
acy of that apostle. They would see, as in sun- 
beams, how little gold and silver, and how much the 
precious blood of Christ has to do in the salvation 
of souls. 

" The conversion of Mr. Da Silva was known to 
all the inhabitants of Madeira, not merely because 
he was a man of great wealth and influence, but es- 
pecially by the remarkable change in his life. He 
mingled with the Bible-readers, who were despised 
and treated with contempt by those with whom he 
had always been associated. Instead of attending 



ARSENIO NICOS DA SILVA. 147 

the gay and brilliant parties, where his wife and 
friends found their highest happiness, he went to 
pray with the persecuted Bible-readers. In their 
little circles of prayer he enjoyed richer blessings 
than the gaiety or pleasures of the world could im- 
part. 

" One of these meetings, for prayer and reading 
the Scriptures, was held in a private family, about 
a mile from his house. We are told, by some 
members of that family, that Mr. Da Sllva was always 
expected to be present. They depended upon him 
to conduct the exercises, and to read and expound 
the word of God. His whole soul was engaged in 
this work. These precious meetings will never be 
forgotten by those who attended them. They will ever 
remember, with indescribable interest, the fervent, 
tearful prayers, and edifying exhortations of Mr. Da 
Silva. By these, as the means, their courage and 
faith were increased at the time when they were 
about to pass through the fires of persecution. These 
seasons of previous communion with God, and with 
each other, were continued, until the family had to 
flee for their lives to the mountains." 

One of the judges of the island married the 
daughter of Mr. Da Silva. It pained his heart 
not to see her also a follower of Jesus. She, who 
had been a means of bringino: him under the influence 
of the gospel, and who had received such a blessing 
from its messenger and from his God of mercy, 



148 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

would not '^heed the things which were spoken." It 
often occurs, that they who are the most benefitted 
by a blessing are the least grateful. 

This judge was he who declined to arrest Mr. 
Hewitson, on the ground that his authority did not 
extend over him ; perhaps the friendship between 
his father-in-law and the missionary had some weight 
in his mind. 

Mr. Da Silva had become a member and an elder 
in the church, under Mr. Hewitson. With such a 
pastor and teacher, he must have grown rapidly in 
knowledge and grace. It is a wonder that he was 
not imprisoned. ''Bonds and afflictions awaited 
him." 

The reader will remember the attack upon the 
house of the Misses Rutherford, and the man who 
had an image thrust in his face with the command 
to ''kiss it," "adore it," but who refused the idol- 
atry. Rome owed that man a grudge. The abuse 
of that hour was not enough. He was too prominent 
a man to be allowed his liberty. Neither the power 
of wealth, nor his high standing as a citizen could 
screen him from harm. His near friends, of such influ- 
ence as his wife and son-in-law ought to have exerted, 
were not enouorh to save him from dano;er. He 
must either return to the church of Rome, or fly 
from his family and home, from wealth and native 
land. Others were speeding away for life ; so too 
must he. Already he was obliged to keep away 



AESEXIO XICOS DA SILVA 149 

from the city. Among the mountains, so often 
the kindest refuges God's people could tind, he 
wandered, a sheep, yes a shepherd, hunted by the 
wolyes. 

He could not bid farewell on a bright morning at 
his own door, order his well packed trunks to the 
harbour, get into a fine carriage, and pass through 
the streets in style, bowino^ to many friends as they 
bowed goodbye to him. Every pang of parting was 
made as intense as possible. The love of his wife 
was a small offset to her want of sympathy with him 
in his religion. It was but a '' drop of honey in a 
quart of gall." Any respect of his son-in-law was 
nothing to the shameful refusal to defend and save 
him from an exile. Of his daughter he could haye 
said, *'How can I give thee up I" Once he had 
been ready to crive and do anythincr for her: now 
she is not ready to use all possible means to keep 
him at home. 

He was obliged to come from the mountains to 
the city in the nio;ht, if he would see his family. He 
hired a man to stand at the corner of a certain street 
at an appointed hour. All was dark and silent. He 
came and met this man who showed him to a house 
where he could be concealed. Then he sent for his 
wife, obtained a little money, hastened to a ship and 
sailed for Lisbon. 

Never ao;ain did he see his family. Letters 
passed between them, and he would often say, years 
13* 



150 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

after this, "I have a letter from my wife — kind 
friendly letter, but no good, no spiritual in it — no 
faith in Jesus Christ.'' 

The Lord had a future work for this Christian 
hero. 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 151 



CHAPTER XII. 

REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 

"He will guide me with his eye/' wrote Mr. 
Hewitson while absent, " whether it be back again 
to Madeira or not." He learned that he must go 
to Trinidad, " not only to administer gospel consola- 
tion, but to reorganize the exiles into a compacted 
church order.'' 

January 2nd 1847, he sailed from Southampton. 
The winds were contrary. He was soon lying sick 
in his cabin, translating Mr. H. Bonar's hymn, " I 
lay my sins on Jesus," into Portuguese, and a met- 
rical version of the 23rd Psalm. This was the be- 
ginning of a Hymn-Book for the Portuguese church. 

He felt that he must do something for the Master 
on the voyage. If we do not work where we are, 
we will not be likely to do any good in any other 
place. " Among the passengers," he says, '' I have 
come in contact with only one who seems truly 
desirous of walking with God." This was a man 
who took an interest in the new mission as its thrill- 
ing history was told him, and he gave ten pounds 
for the Trinidad fund. Mr. Hewitson gave him a 



152 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

copy of the old book called " The Marrow of Modern 
Divinity/'* and he was so pleased with it that he 
one day put a five pound note in the missionary's 
hand, saying, " This book is worth that to me." Of 
this kindness the suffering exiles should have the 
benefit. He was taking £200 for their relief — what 
was this among so many ? 

Mr. Hewitson did not expect to have an oppor- 
tunity of visiting Madeira. But he was gladly per- 
mitted to do so. The vessel landed him at a secluded 
point of the city, and two gentlemen quietly led him 
to a house near by. Then he was put in a palan- 
quin, and carried through the streets to the residence 
of a sure friend, where his unexpected visit was re- 
ceived with joy. Several converts came there to 
see him. It was a happy hour. Then, veiled in 
the palanquin, he made a few other calls, and was 
taken back to the steamer, whose wheels were soon 
working away to Trinidad. Remember Paul's short 
visit at Miletus. 

February 4th, 1847, he was at Trinidad. The 
^' meetings and greetings, the embraces, the tears, the 
laughings" cannot be told. The welcome was kind 
and cordial, from those whom he had well known in 
Madeira. 

There were now about four hundred and fifty 
exiles in Trinidad, most of whom were numbered with 
the converts to Christ. Eighty-five members of the 
church were there. Three of the seven elders, and 

* This has been published by the Board of Publication. 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 153 

four of the nine deacons had come from Madeira. 
About thirty persons soon applied for admission to 
the church. 

How were these exiles to be supported ? They 
were in a strange land. They were not familiar 
with the language of their benefactors. They found 
all classes of people from several diiferent nations. 
The island had become a sort of '' stowing-away 
place," for sufferers and slaves from Africa and 
India. Many of these foreigners were sunk in the 
lowest state of superstition and wickedness. The 
native inhabitants had been so overrun by these 
heathen bands, that some of them left their estates 
and retired to the forests to make new homes. Yet 
there were some Christians among the islanders, 
who had warm hearts to relieve the exiles of Ma- 
deira. Several of the planters were willing to hire 
them to work on the sugar estates. But remember 
that these exiles knew nothing of that kind of 
labour. Some of them had been wealthy, and their 
hands were not skilful to toil for their daily bread. 
Many women and children must have a lighter em- 
ployment. 

''Something must be done," wrote Mr. Hewitson, 
"for the more safe employment of the exiles. I am 
revolving a scheme which none but an Oberlin could 
carry vigorously into effect, and I am not an Ober- 
lin. Every weak muscle in my body echoes — ' not 
an Oberlin.' " A head to plan was not all the need. 
Funds were wanted. The work of teaching, preach- 



154 THE EXILES OE MADEIRA. 

ing, and perfecting the church was enough for more 
than any one man. He resided at the capital, 
called 'Port of Spain,' and there found most of his 
church about him. He had his ' class' newly started ; 
a Sabbath-school was commenced ; a day-school was 
begun ; and he had many inquirers to instruct, many 
mourners to comfort, many weak believers to en- 
courage, and many poor to assist. He went regular- 
ly to Arouca, fourteen miles distant, and held 
meetings ; also to Santa Cruz, ten miles away, where 
he found some Portuguese. Twelve of them were 
Protestants, and eight were Romanists. All the 
Protestants were together on one estate. After 
their day's labour, they met together for worship. 
Some of the Romanists gladly heard the word. 
About one hundred of the converts were thus 
scattered about on sugar estates and cocoa planta- 
tions. He went to them all, and often preached 
under the shadows of the trees. To learn how one 
half-a-week was laboriously passed, read the follow- 
ing letter to his parents, written March 31st : 

" On Wednesday, last week, I left this place in a 
gig, at a little after six, A. M. and travelling ten 
miles, preached to forty Portuguese in the open air 
under the shadow of a large tree. Afterwards I 
went a distance of six or seven miles more, and 
preached in an upper room to about twenty Por- 
tuguese. Then returning four or five miles, I 
preached again in Mr. Brodie's church at Arouca, 
to a number of Portuguese, who assembled, after 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 155 

their day's work, from a distance of two miles. On 
Thursday morning I was here to breakfast, having 
left Arouca pretty early. If the Lord will, I shall 
be at Arouca again next Sabbath, administering the 
communion and preaching twice." This was coming 
very near to proving himself an Oberlin. We 
wonder how such a weak body could endure such 
labours, attended, as they were, by anxieties which 
cannot be written. '' Working in this hot climate 
suits me ill," he writes ; " I scarcely know what it 
is to be free from fatigue." 

The Romanists saw and felt these labours. With 
a glad heart he could write : 

" ' In this island there are a considerable number 
of Portuguese from Madeira, who came here staunch 
Roman catholics ; and of these several have been 
led, by means of intercourse with their converted 
countrymen, to embrace the Protestant faith. Three 
of these have expressed a desire to be admitted to 
the Lord's table, and another of them travelled 
eighteen miles last Saturday evening in order to 
attend public worship with us on the following day. 
One of the most recent of the converts from Popery, 
and one whose heart seemed to have been truly 
opened by the Lord to receive the word of grace, is 
labouring under a white swelling at the knee which 
makes amputation necessary, as the only means of sav- 
ing his life. Two or three Sabbaths ago, this man, 
yielding to an irresistible desire to hear the gospel 
in public, made the dangerous effort of travelling to 



156 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

church on crutches, and back again, a painful journey 
of nearly two miles. Surely such as he will rise up 
in the judgment against those who, possessing greater 
advantages, yet *' neglect the great salvation,'' and 
" forsake the assembling of themselves together'' in 
the house of God." 

One glance at the temporal condition of the 
exiles. On the sugar plantations many suffered. 
The low marshy ground, so different from the vine- 
lands of their native home, together with the hot 
air, made their condition very sad. Many of them 
had fevers of the deadly type. Others were obliged 
to retreat to the highlands and to the capital. The 
Governor ordered the removal. This Governor 
was Lord Harris, of England, w^ho exerted himself 
most generously in behalf of the sufferers. Other 
labourers on the plantations suffered from other 
diseases, and especially from failure of eye-sight. 
About fifty of the refugees were supported by cul- 
tivating the sugar cane, when only sixteen of them 
were able to do the work. Mr. Hewitson wrote : 

" The greater proportion of the exiled brethren 
have found occupation in the capital of the island, 
Port of Spain, or its vicinity. Not a few of them 
are distributed in domestic service among the fam- 
ilies resident there. Some are occupied in garden- 
ing and similar rustic labour. A few have com- 
menced shopkeeping on a small scale, being unable 
to gain a livelihood by any other means. While 
those of them who are masons, carpenters, and 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 157 

shoemakers, are endeavouring, in their respective 
departments of labour, to earn a livelihood. The 
female converts, who, in Madeira, were able to sup- 
port themselves by needlework, are still dependent 
on the same means of support, but their earnings 
are comparatively small and precarious. While 
some of the brethren are, by the goodness of God, 
in comfortable enough circumstances, not a few have 
such difficulties to struggle with as tend at once to 
keep them hanging in daily dependence upon the 
Lord." 

Another glance at their spiritual condition. The 
elders and the deacons had been faithful, and had 
kept up meetings before Mr. Hewitson arrived. 
Some persons had grown sorrowful under the heavy 
burden, and had almost forgotten to cast it on the 
Lord. They had remembered Egypt, and felt lonely 
in the wilderness. One of them said, ^'In Madeira 
it was not so difficult as it is here to walk with God. 
I had some striking answers to prayer in Madeira, 
but here God has not given such answers to my 
prayers." The reason was plain. Family-worship 
and secret devotion had been neglected. The ask- 
ing had almost ceased, and the answers were with- 
held. 

The sword will be kept bright in the contest, but 
will rust when the battle ceases. Take away the 
iron hand of persecution, and the heart will very 
naturally be thrown off its guard, and become 
worldly. We often feel the chill of a summer ev- 
14 



158 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

ening more than we do the intense cold of the win- 
ter, for we protect ourselves against the keen De- 
cember storm. Thus some who had braced their 
souls against the enmity of Madeira, felt the unsus- 
pected chill of Trinidad, and grew cold in heart. 

But not so with all. To the first communion 
numbers came, hungering and thirsting for right- 
eousness. They sat under his shadow with great 
delight, and his fruit was sweet to their taste. 
Could they not lean on Jesus' bosom, and wash his 
feet with their tears ? " Who is this that cometh 
up from the wilderness leaning on the arm of her 
beloved?'' She was the refugee church, with bleed- 
ing feet, and garments rolled in the blood of her 
sons ! 

Exiles from Madeira were still arriving. For 
months there had been a succession of flights, when 
the faithful, like Abraham, '^went out, not knowing 
whither they went." They knew not how to be 
fed or clothed. Fleeing from one enemy, they 
knew not but they should rush into the face of an- 
other. It might be ''as if a man did flee from a 
lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house 
and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit 
him." 

Yet many had strong and pleasant hopes. They 
felt assured that in Trinidad and the United States 
there would be ''freedom to worship God." They 
were willing to leave all for this great right and 
privilege. They sought a better country. " It was 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 159 

something like the anticipation of heaven to the 
weary and suffering Christian." 

' Persecution was sweeping Madeira well-nigh clean 
of its choicest and worthiest people. Among the 
thorns was here and there a lily left ; among the 
tares some good seed was growing secretly. Among 
the lawless was here and there one to hold up the 
banner of truth, and testify that " there is a judg- 
ment." The wrath of man could not entirely crush 
out the word of God. The church of Christ was 
not destroyed ; only removed to another clime. 

Mrs. Alves was among those who were heartily 
welcomed by her friends. Another, Philippa Rosa, 
who, in a trying hour, had denied her Lord, was 
there. Like Peter in her denial, she was like him 
in repentance, and returned to her Saviour with 
bitter weeping. A little boy, who saw his father 
killed and thrown into the river, when trying to es- 
cape to the vessel, came with his mother to Trinidad 
and there saw his mother die. God found friends 
for him. He afterwards came to America. 

Every vine has its enemy ; every field of wheat 
has its tares. Trinidad had its foes to a pure re- 
ligion. At the very moment when Mr. Hewitson 
was writing about Philippa Rosa's tears of peni- 
tence, one of his flock came to his house weeping, 
and saying that in the house where she was acting 
as a servant, she was most harshly treated for re- 
fusing to do evdl. The family were Romanists. '^I 
left Madeira," said she, 'Hhat I might be able to 



160 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

follow God, and for nothing else, and I wish now to 
leave that family/' This is a specimen both of the 
spirit of enmity, and of Mr. Hewitson's calls and 
labours. The shepherd must find a place for the 
lamb. He wrote : 

" Now, more than ever perhaps, the brethren who 
are ' strangers' in Trinidad, need the prayers of the 
church. They are exposed to temptations more 
dangerous, because more subtile and insidiously se- 
ductive, than those connected with a persecution 
state. To be attracted by the world, under its 
mask of a graceless Protestantism, is worse than to 
be repelled by the world under its undisguised form 
of hatred to the truth. Let the church then, — 
even all who love the Lord Jesus, and who have 
heretofore poured forth supplications in behalf of 
the persecuted saints of Madeira, — continue in ear- 
nest prayer for them to the Lord, that they may be 
' kept from falling, and presented faultless before 
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.' " 

The organization of the church was completed iii 
April, 1847, about two months after the arrival of 
Mr. Hewitson. He would leave for the cooler 
north in May. It was important to find a leader 
for the flock. 

The eyes of the faithful had been directed to Mr. 
Da Silva as the successor of Mr. Hewitson. He 
had studied theology. His gifts and graces were 
of a high order. The Free Church of Scotland 
named him as their missionary. 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 161 

Da Silva went with joy, and his dear former 
pastor had the great pleasure of handing over to 
this strong fellow-labourer the care of the exile 
church. He was ordained and installed over his 
first and only charge, at Port-of-Spain, in April, 
1847. His former pastor said of him, " He seems 
to have the Bible always in his heart, and his heart 
always in heaven." 

When the people were asked whether they would 
receive Mr. Da Silva as their pastor, they were re- 
quested to vote by raising the hand. But they 
were too happy for this ; they all rose to their feet, 
and raised both hands as high as they could ! He 
would not lack for the Aarons and Hurs ! 

The good pastor often made one remark, which 
became a proverb among the ministers on the island. 
''Patientia! Patientia!'' he would say pleasantly 
smiling, when anything dark or diflScult came up. 
Patience ! Patience ! It reminds us of the tradi- 
tion concerning John, the beloved disciple, in his 
old age saying daily, '' Little children, love one an- 
other." 

Six hundred in his flock, and all exiles ! Pilgrims 
and sojourners indeed ! No other flock like it in 
the world ! It was truly a charge. The labours 
were great. But he was not in despair. The 
property of the exiles, and the wretched prospect 
of a better condition in Trinidad, were truly an 
anxiety in his mind. No land could be obtained 
for them to settle upon, and there was little hope 
14* 



162 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

of living by their toils so long as they must become 
mere slaves in the hot fields, or in the friendless 
houses of strangers. 

Like the Pilgrim Fathers in Leyden, they began 
to look toward some other land for a home. Their 
cry came to the Christians of the United States, 
and instead of echoing back a cold, heartless mur- 
mur, a voice of welcome rolled across the waters. 
Our banner of religious freedom was held up above 
the waves. Our ''great West," with her grand 
prairies, was pictured before their eyes. Our Chris- 
tian people felt their hearts touched by that sad 
wail from Madeira, which will ring awfully in the per- 
secutors' ears at the judgment : " Ye did it not 
unto the least of these my brethren V 

The American Protestant society sent the Rev. 
G. Gonsalves to Trinidad, while Mr. Da Silva was 
praying God that help might come. His mission 
was to inquire into the condition of the exiles. 
This " Good Samaritan" society was intent upon 
looking after the temporal interests of the people, 
as well as the spiritual. The exiles had not only 
been beaten but cruelly robbed, or they could have 
had their own means of finding happy homes. 

Mr. Gonsalves had been born at Madeira. He 
had been a Romanist. After his conversion he 
came to this country, and for several years laboured 
among the five thousand or six thousand Portuguese 
on the sea coast of New England. It was refresh- 
ing to his own heart to visit those once fellow-coun- 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 163 

trymen, and feel the warm glow of their piety. 
What he saw may be shown in one of their pastor's 
letters to the Free Church of Scotland : 

" More than one hundred and twenty commun- 
icants take the Lord's supper on the last Sabbath of 
each month. The solemnity and reverence with 
which this act of worship is performed, touch the 
heart even of the unbelieving. Besides, the regu- 
larity with which the people attend on days fixed 
for ordinary worship, and the general blamelessness 
of their lives, exercise, in some degree, a beneficial 
influence on the character of those among whom 
we dwell. God, who has begun this good work among 
them, will carry it on ; but till this day, through 
many, many afflictions have these children had to 
pass. In the midst of them we constantly implore 
his mercy ; and sure we are that he will hear us. 
The sufferings in which this church is at present in- 
volved arise from the decaying state of this island. 
With difficulty do the people at all find labour so as 
to be able to support themselves and their families, 
and to pay the rent of their houses, which are al- 
ways exceedingly high. In circumstances of ex- 
treme necessity, those of them who sicken, die as 
much in consequence of want as from the severity 
of their disease. Their little children are almost 
naked, and have only rags to sleep on. Such of 
them as are of age to be sent to school, are, as a 
matter of sheer necessity, put to service for food 
and clothing. And what is it that they learn? 



164 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

Everything that is opposite to the doctrine of the 
gospel; and consequently the children, who should 
grow up to take the place of their believing parents 
in love to the Lord, are like seed-corn that is com- 
pletely lost." 

Mr. Gonsalves returned bringing a letter from 
Mr. Da Silva, in which he says : '^ I do not see 
here the prospect of keeping this people in the midst 
of the present distress, as their labours are not paid 
as they should be ; for in this sickly climate, when 
the husband and father is taken to the hospital, the 
wife and children are left destitute, and not being 
able to pay the house-rent, they are turned into the 
street, to beg from door to door. This state of 
things led me to solicit of the governor of this island, 
Lord Harris, a portion of land to be divided amongst 
the Portuguese, that they might on the same build 
their cabins, provided they could receive some aid 
in advance, to be paid by them in the course of 
time. But although the governor is friendly to us, 
yet in his official capacity he said he could not com- 
ply with our request. I have also written on this 
subject to the Rev. Mr. Hewitson, of Scotland, who 
answered that we should find it difficult to obtain 
lands for families in these islands. And finally in 
the midst of these eiforts, the bank of the West Indies 
failed, and sugars came down in price, and business 
was prostrated to the ruin of many households. 
Government works were stopped, and labourers can 
find little or nothing to do. And worse than all, 



REV. MR. HEWITSON IN TRINIDAD. 165 

our children whose morals should be preserved at 
every expense, are mixed with a low, profane, 
wretched Roman catholic population. 

" I do not ask for money, but for lands. I ask 
what God has given to man, that he might earn his 
bread by the sweat of his brow. Our people are 
mechanics and farmers, virtuous and industrious; 
they will soon thrive with the blessing of God and 
the labour of their hands. They will soon rejoice in 
abundance, for they hate vice and love virtue." 

Some of the exiles wished to go with Mr. Gon- 
salves, but their pastor persuaded them to wait 
until they could remove as a band of pilgrims. 
Little did he then think how soon he would depart 
for America to seek health, reach the shore, and die 
in the arms of those who were calling his people to 
a land of liberty. 



166 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SHEPHERD DYING ON THE SHORE. 

'^A-ltbough no relatives were present, yet many hearts mourned over 
him, and many eyes were filled with tears as his body went down to 
its last resting-place/' 

To pass from luxury into poverty is often severe 
to health. Perhaps Mr. Da Silva was affected some- 
what by this. But the seprwation from his family ; 
the anxiety, like Paul's, for his kindred ; the change 
of climate; the charge of a people poor and in need 
of much spiritual guidance ; the great labours of his 
ministry — all these brought on disease in fearful 
form. Toward the north he was pointed, and in 
December, 1848, he came to New York. He was 
not only on our coast, but on the shore of another 
world. 

Sad were the partings at Trinidad. But those 
who had risen to their feet and held up both hands 
in receiving him as pastor, now felt that it was a 
"needs be." They crowded the wharf when he 
sailed. Many risked their lives by entering small 
boats and dashing through rough waves to the vessel 
lying at anchor, that they might see his face once more, 



THE SHEPHERD DYING ON THE SHORE. 167 

and hear some words from that man whose heart was 
in heaven. Their enthusiasm was not yet lost. 
Alas ! this was their last vision of his face on 
earth ! 

Nor was health all that he sought. Dearer to 
him than life was the exile church. He sought a 
home for his people — a green pasture for the flock. 
Some of the Madeira brethren were here before him, 
and the meeting was one of great joy. Wanderers, 
tossed on the seas or struggling over mountain passes, 
always delight to meet and talk, and draw pleasure 
from the past endurance. So with brethren, long 
tossed and wearied on earth ; what will it be in 
heaven ! 

A candle, after the blaze is gone, revives in one 
brighter glow, and then dies. The life of this man 
of God had really lost its vigour. It revived for a 
few days, and then sunk rapidly away. Truly 
God's ways are not as our ways. It seemed as if 
he could not be spared to conduct the toilsome en- 
terprise of giving the exile church a home. But he 
was not so necessary as Moses or Joshua, or he 
would have been spared. 

There he lay gasping on a bed of death. Every 
thought of home, of his flock, of his plans, would 
seem to point every dart of pain. Once rich, now 
an object of charity ! Once dear to wife and child, 
but now cast out as evil ! Once thinking of a splendid 
monument, but now an exile grave ! Was he cast 
down ? Oh these were nothing to his soul. For he 



168 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

knew all tkis well counted cost. Once he was blind, 
now he sees ! Once he was lost, now he is found ! 
Here is comfort. He has little anxiety for him- 
self, for his name, or his body. His mind turns in 
imploring pity toward his family and flock, as he 
commits them to the merciful Lord. The man of 
strong vigorous mind speaks like a little child. 

A gentleman from Illinois was daily wdth him. 
Da Silva had asked about the land, to his imagina- 
tion so goodly. He said he wanted to go and see 
all the land that he might find a good home for his 
people. This he often repeated : '* You can do my 
people good. I must go with you. They must 
have a place and go to it, or they will all be 
scattered.'' 

^' Oh ! I want to know more with you. You 
teach me to speak English ;'* he would say when 
others spoke of the things reserved for those who 
love God. 

''Better?'' asked this daily attendant one morn- 
ing. '' No, it is not better." He turned away his 
head and wept. Hezekiah perhaps did not feel 
more intense longing to live, than he did at that 
moment, for he " remembered Zion." Soon re- 
covering his submission he said, " God is good, 
but I fear I not go with you to see my people set- 
tled." 

The all-absorbing topic, of an earthly kind, was 
the good of his people. When hopes of life revived, 
he praised God that there was some prospect of 



THE SHEPHERD DYING ON THE SHORE. 169 

his living long enough to see them in a new home. 
*' Are you yet alive?" his friend asked, after the 
patient had been some time unconscious. 

" Yes, but very sick, pain, swelled.'* Then he 
wept in view of the goodness of God in bringing 
reason back again. 

On the last day of 1848, when he was fast sink- 
ing, Mr. Kingsbury said : " It is Sabbath, clear sky, 
and the sun bright; — is God good?" "Yes," he 
replied. " Is Christ precious ?" "Yes." "I fear," 
said Mr. Kingsbury, "you will not live long." 
" No," he answered, " but yet I want to go with my 
people." 

On the 1st of January he was weak, restless, and 
in severe pain. Mr. Kingsbury remarked : " Christ 
alone can help and cure you." "Yes," said he, 
^' but my people will be alone. God is good. Every 
thing seemed to go wrong since I came to America ; 
— hindered here, could not go west and get homes. 
No, but God will take care of the Portuguese." 

To Mr. Kingsbury he said : " You are my friend ; 
I love you very much." When told that we were 
all his friends, but God was better than them all, 
and he must love him ; he quickly replied : " Yes, 
yes, I love him, I love you." 

He was sensitively grateful for every little kind- 
ness. It was hard to be dependent on strangers. 
He was told that Christ was thus showing that 
" every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, 
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, 
15 



170 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an liiin- 
di'ed fold, and shall inherit life everlasting.'' He 
replied, "' Oh, yes, good friends, Christ is better 
than all." 

''Pain! sick! very sick!" he would say with 
great effort ; and when told that Jordan's flood was 
dark, deep, and rapid, but Christ had passed it 
safely, he would say, ••' Yes, yes ! Though dark on 
this side, the other is cheerful. Yes ! yes !" 

In his last audible prayer he said: 

"0 Lord God of Israel, thou hast been very 
gracious to us poor Portuguese, who were in great 
darkness in the island of Madeira. Of thy infinite 
mercy thou hast given us the hope of eternal life 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" Lord, look in mercy upon thy servant who 
is aflilicted. But especially look in mercy upon thy 
redeemed people in Trinidad. Lord, thou know- 
est that thy servant has done what he could for thy 
people, and now is ready to give up even the last 
drop of his blood for them, even as thou, blessed 
Lord Jesus, didst give thine for us poor miserable 
sinners ! Lord, forgive my sins — give patience. 

" Lord, I pray thee for my dear wife and 
daughter. Lord, may they forsake the world 
and give thee their hearts, and remember the advice 
I have given them. 

'^I am weak, but thou art mightj^ Let not, 
Lord, thy persecuted flock become scattered, but 



THE SHEPHERD DYING ON THE SHORE. 171 

establish them in the faith of the gospel and unity 
of thy Holy Spirit. 

" Lord, bless all good Christians in America; 
reward them for their kindness to us. These favours 
I ask, in great weakness of body, through my blessed 
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen." 

Just before he died, he asked Mr. Gonsalves to 
write to his wife and daughter. '' What shall I 
write?'* ''Tell them to remember what I have 
written in every letter." Yes, he had always been 
earnest for them. There was no return to the Ro- 
man catholic church. 

One of the last questions proposed to him — " Is 
God good to you?" — was answered: "Yes, he is 
good to me; God is good to all !" 

Though he could not open his eyes toward the 
last, yet the tear of love to Christ would roll down 
his thin and sallow cheeks. At the last hour his 
Portuguese brother knelt down to pray, along with 
others who could not be persuaded to leave the room 
where their dear pastor was dying. While the 
prayer was ascending, the happy redeemed spirit 
left for the heavenly land. He fell softly asleep. 

He died in faith, January lOtli, in the forty-ninth 
year of his age. Scarcely landed from the waves 
of ocean, so rough at his embarking, the billows of 
death took him away, and they still murmur his 
dying words, ''Farewell in Christ Jesus." 

At his funeral the llev. Mr. Gonsalves, mission- 
ary of the society, addressed, in their own language, 



172 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

the Portuguese exiles, who were present to mourn 
over the death of their beloved pastor. At the 
close of this, all the Portuguese present, (about 
fifty,) rose and sung a hymn in their own language. 

Every eye in the congregation suddenly filled 
with tears, as the notes of these homeless and per- 
secuted disciples fell upon the ear. The singing 
was so devotional and hearty, and there was such ai 
sublimity in their rising when sufiused with tears, 
and their hearts overflowing with grief, that no one 
could resist the subduing influence of the scene. 

The body of this first martyr from Madeira was 
then buried in the vaults of the Lafayette-Place 
church, there to await the resurrection of the dead 
in the last day. Beloved, blessed man, thou art 
now at rest ! 

It was a bitter cold day, but many were the wit- 
nesses. The weeping Portuguese felt like Rachel, 
refusing to be comforted. 

After the death of this devoted "man of God'' 
a friendly letter was sent to Mrs. Da Silva, at Ma- 
deira. It told her of her husband's sickness, and 
his joyful death, and reminded her of his last mes- 
sage to his family. She replied in a very lady-like, 
but cool, business letter. Though she thanked 
those who were kind to her husband, she expressed 
not a word of sympathy for his religion, which was 
his comfort in death. 

To another letter sent her some months after, she 
replied in a very difi'erent spirit. She referred to 



THE SHEPHERD DYING ON THE SHORE. 173 

her "good husband whom it had pleased the Lord 
to take to himself." Her gratitude to his friends 
was far more deep and hearty. She said that her 
mind was in great darkness, and she could obtain 
no comfort from the church which she had refused 
to forsake. She was reading the Bible, but needed 
some one to tell her what to do to be saved. And 
this is all we know of her history. We hope the 
entrance of God*s word and Spirit gave her light to 
the true cross. 
15* 



174 THE EXILES OE MADEIRA. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AN OUTLOOK OVER THE SEA. 

thou Eternal Ruler I 

Who holdest in thine arm 
The tempests of the ocean, 

Protect them from all harm. 

When a vessel is burning at sea, it often occurs 
that the relief-ships carry the passengers in all di- 
rections, and it is a long time before the mother 
knows where her son was borne, or an anxious 
people learn who were saved. It was thus with the 
scattering of the Christians of Madeira. It was 
long before the little bands could report their places 
of refuge. Some had landed in Demarara, others 
at St. Vincent, and others at St. Kitts. How many 
fled from Madeira cannot be certainly told. Some 
little bands may have perished, with no man left to 
tell the awful story. Some were heard of in British 
Guiana. Of others no news ever came. Of them 
it could have been said, in the beautiful words of the 
Bible, " They shall lift up their voice, they shall 
sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry 
aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord 



AN OUTLOOK OVER THE SEA. 175 

in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of 
Israel in the isles of the sea." 

The Editor of the Defensor, a newspaper in Ma- 
deira, was threatened with murder for publishing 
the following facts, in 1846. In the parish of St. 
Antonio, some persons met quietly on the Lord's 
day evening, in their own house, to read and hear 
the Bible. A band of armed men entered the 
house violently, wounded the owner of it, and ar- 
rested the unresisting company of friends. Re- 
member Saul of Tarsus. " He made havoc of the 
church, entering into every house, and haling men 
and women, committed them to prison." 

They were charged with resisting the officers of 
justice ! It was not asked what they had done for 
which the police could arrest them, nor proved that 
they had showed any resistance. The police had 
no right to go without the legal, written order, and 
they could show none. We think that our homes 
are our strongholds, and that not even a King or 
Governor has any right to enter by force, unless 
proof is shown that we are guilty of some daring 
WTong. Not so in Madeira. "Where law ends, 
tyranny begins." 

Any one could see that the police and their band 
were guilty of an assault. But the jury, sitting in face 
of these arrested Bible-readers, would not see that 
fact. So they found these innocents guilty of resist- 
ance I Resistance for turning the other cheek after one 
was smitten ! Madeira is a beautiful island, but we 



176 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

thank God that we were not born there. No one 
could have a ''vine and fig tree" of his own, and 
be safe under it, if he had a Bible in his hand 

''Alas for liberty !" wrote this editor. "Tyr- 
anny is like fire.'' It gains strength by running. 
The law that protects to-day, may be made to crush 
the protected to-morrow. 

These prisoners were condemned to lie in jail ten 
months. When the ten months were fully ended, 
they were there still, with no prospect of release. 
Why ? Because the public prosecutor imagined 
that the sentence was not sufficiently severe ! Where 
was the judge whose son-in-law was a Christian ? 

The widowed mother of two of the suiferers was 
released without trial. But while her children Avere 
patiently waiting for the slow law to release them, 
her dwelling was set on fire, the store-house burned, 
and she was obliged to escape for her life. In the 
West Indies she fell a victim to the fever, remem- 
bering how her husband had been buried in the 
public road for his faith. 

Who then would report the state of the people in 
1848, if an editor were thus threatened with murder 
in 1846 ? There were " the Lord's hidden ones" 
on the island ; but how many in 1848, no one could 
tell. They were left to " glorify God in the fires." 

" Poor Madeira !" wrote Dr. Kalley. " There are 
very few believers in it now, unless they are con- 
cealed ; and who knows how many the Lord has 
* who have not bowed the knee to Baal?' " 



AN OUTLOOK OVER THE SEA. 177 

The English residents, for some time, were in 
danger. Dr, Kalley advised a friend not to go there, 
and also said : " The enemies are now very brave. 
The priest says from the pulpit, that, unless Dr. 
Miller does as he would have him, he will be treated 
as Dr. Kalley was. Dr. Dexter was obliged to 
leave the hospital. M. R. was much persecuted. 
She was taken to the church to confess ; but did not 
confess any thing." 

Yet there was some good news. Some of " the 
bravest of the enemies" became " among the firmest 
of the converts." The Lord knew where they were. 
One such man could say, " Sometimes I lift up my 
heart to the Lord in prayer, and at other times I 
break forth into singing praise to God; and always, 
by this means, I get rid of the evil thoughts that 
trouble me, and have my heart filled with joy." 
Thus did the Psalmist sing in the night watches. 

Mr. Hewitson, returning from Trinidad, visited 
St. Kitts, preached fourteen times, and administered 
the Lord's supper twice. He found about fifty 
members there, and they afterwards became an hun- 
dred. He left an elder there as their teacher and 
guardian. 

Martin Da Songa wrote a letter telling how many 
exiles on the island of St. Kitts wished to go to the 
United States. There were ninety-nine, who said 
they wished first of all ''to follow the word of God 
and grow better," and then follow the exile church 
to a new land. These persons were not "outlaws" 



178 tTHE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

of Madeira as their enemies said, but were " men 
of good report." Da Songa wrote : 

'' In the number I here send, there are none that 
get drunk either on rum or wine, neither any that 
may be called slothful. All this people are accus- 
tomed to come to the prayer-meeting for a long 
time, and there are some new ones who now attend ; 
but I have admitted none in the number except 
those I knew as believers before the reception of 
your letter," 

At Essequibo, in British Guiana, were nineteen 
of the exiles. They heard that their brethren were 
on the eve of going to the United States, and one of 
them wrote to their old friends Da Silva and Miss 
Rutherford to learn the facts. The letter is worth 
reading : 

'' But, perhaps, before I proceed, I had better 
inform you who and what I am. I am then a planter 
and attorney, and manager of this estate — but the 
Lord has also used me in his vineyard, and, through 
me, has collected together a church exceeding one 
hundred in number. We do not identify ourselves 
with any denomination, but the only test required 
for fellowship is an interest in ' the blood of the 
Lamb.' With us are united sixteen Portuguese, 
besides our dear blind brother Antonio, and his sis- 
ters Mary and Jokina ; they at present are in 
Georgetown, Demarara. Of those sixteen, only 
five were received into the church at Madeira. Of 
these were Francis Da Silva and his wife Maria. 



AN OUTLOOK OVER THE SEA. 179 

Several of the others were impressed with the truth 
there, while others knew nothing of it till they heard 
it from the Lord's people here. I know nothing of 
Portuguese, but we have very profitable meetings 
together notwithstanding. I mean, now, the meet- 
ings particularly for the Portuguese. They sing 
and pray in their own tongue, in which I sometimes 
have owned fellowship, though it is but few words 
I understand. They then fix on a chapter, or part 
of a chapter, which one dear brother reads ; this dear 
brother has wonderfully got on with English ; I believe 
it is only about two years he has been here. His 
wife has been in this colony many years ; she there- 
fore also knew some English ; and then there is an- 
other dear interesting young disciple, who was taught 
to read in Dr. Kalley's school, in Madeira. Her 
parents, with herself, and I think two other children, 
emigrated to this country some five or six years 
ago. She was living a poor lonely orphan, on an 
estate about a mile from this, having lost her parents 
and brothers or sisters. When she heard of the 
Christian Portuguese here, (our blind brother and 
his sisters were here at the time,) she came to see 
them ; the Lord soon touched her heart, and she is 
now, I trust, growing in grace and in the knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour. She is learning to read 
in English, and can read the Testament pretty well 
in this language. 

" But, to return to our meeting, when the chapter 
is read, I refer them to every text that I can, that 



180 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

I think will throw light on the portion read. I 
then talk what I feel led to say ; this brother as- 
sisted by those two sisters interpreting it to the others. 
And I am happy to say there is an inquiring mind, 
while the many questions asked show me plainly 
they understand what is said. In our public meet- 
ings, particularly at the Lord's table, I sometimes 
try and speak to them a few words through this 
brother." 

Men who have come out of the fires, been trained 
in dungeons, and tried on the mountains or in caves 
and dens of the earth, will generally be found 
" steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord/' 

Friends in England and America were active in 
providing a way for these exiles to come, and a 
home for them when they should arrive. They 
should not leave their various refuges and start 
"not knowing whither." They were willing to go 
anywhere, if they could have a safe home and a 
secure church. 

Most of these exiles had learned " to labour and 
to wait." Da Silva's " patience" was not forgotten, 
nor were Hewitson's lessons of industry. They 
were now mostly farmers and mechanics. They 
wished to be in a colony by themselves in a new 
land. 

At first a large agricultural company engaged to 
give them a home in Illinois. They were to have 
houses, good wages, and the comforts of life. To 



AN OUTLOOK OVER THE SEA. 181 

every family of the colony ten acres of land were to 
be given. Bonds were given to make secure the 
contract. The place was about half way between 
Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois. The Ameri- 
can Protestant society were to pay for their immi- 
gration to the place. 

Appeals were made to the Christians of England 
and the United States to help transport the exiles, 
who were in need of clothing and daily bread. The 
response was generous. The Christian people felt 
their hearts touched as they were asked to take an 

outlook over the sea. 
16 



182 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 



CHAPTER XV. 

A FAREWELL TO THE ISLES. 

" They come, they come ; — thine exiled bands, 

Where'er they rest or roam, 
Have heard thy voice in distant lands, 
And hasten to their home." 

Some of the exiles were already in New York. 
Great preparations were making for the welcome of 
others. Just then the first plan for their settlement 
failed. New schemes must be devised. Stout 
hearted men set about it in right good earnest. In 
their will they found a way. A home was again 
secured in Illinois. Christian friends in Jackson- 
ville offered to take those already in New York and 
provide for them. Springfield and Waverly were 
proposed as points where others following should 
be settled. 

Here was the "finger of God." Had the exiles 
left New York when first proposed, they would have 
met with that terrible disease — the cholera — then 
stealing victims from the lines of travel, and beset- 
ting men at almost every point of rest. And fur- 
ther, had they gone then to the place first selected, 



A FAREWELL TO THE ISLE. 183 

they would have met with a severe disappointment, 
and found no resting place for their feet. The 
company which had engaged to give them houses 
and lands had failed. The delay thus caused proved 
a blessing. Though in the city when the cholera 
raged, no death was known to occur among them. 

One vessel after another arrived, bringing exiles, 
until about five hundred were in the city. The 
American Protestant Society had to find their daily 
bread, and clothe the needy. Some were sick. All 
were in a strange land. 

Dr. Kalley had not ceased to remember these 
people, many of whom were his " sons in the 
faith." He wrote them from Malta in 1849. As 
one band of exiles after another came, his letter 
met them in their own language. In it he says : 

'^ What are all the riches of this world without 
the love of God ? Love is found in heaven. There 
the blessed rejoice in love. They have no money 
in heaven. There they do not need money. But 
they could not be happy without love. Love there- 
fore is celestial ; it is worth more than all the treas- 
ures of the world. Love will remain when the fire 
of God shall melt all earthly goods. Jesus said, 
'Love one another as I have loved you/ " 

He then warns them of false teachers. The les- 
son is good for us all. " The way in which these 
enemies succeed in destroying souls, is by raising 
doubts in the minds of the disciples as regards the 
blessed truths of the Bible. In the same manner 



184 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

the Devil tempted our mother Eve; and he en- 
deavoured to tempt Jesus in the same way. In this 
way the Devil and his servants have destroyed mil- 
lions of souls. They begin by saying tliat the 
word of God is a book full of mysteries, and very 
obscure, very hard for any knowledge of true re- 
ligion by searching. Then they recommend the 
writings of the fathers, saying that they contain the 
truth which the church has believed in all ages. 
They say that we must examine the writings of the 
dead priests to know the true meaning or right in- 
terpretation of the Bible. 

" Suppose a number of men should go to work 
and make a common tallow candle, and, after light- 
ing it, should place it in their midst, and then should 
send out their preachers to inform the people that 
without the light of their candle no one could see 
in the day time, even if the sun should shine ever 
so clear. What should we think of such men ? 
Why we should take it for granted that they had 
run away, by some means, from the lunatic asylum. 
Are not the words of God clear and plain ? Can 
they not give assurance to the immortal soul ? Sup- 
pose we should see a number of men digging at the 
bottom of one of the huge mountains of Madeira, 
and heard them say that the mountains were about 
to tumble down, and that it was necessary for them 
to work very hard in order to prevent so great a 
calamity. Therefore one would bring a handful 
of clay, another a broken reed, another a rotten 



A FAREWELL TO THIl ISLE. 185 

rail to hold up the mountain. What should we 
think of such men?" 

Gladness is often the twin of sadness. It was on 
the 19th of October, 1849. Nearly three hundred 
exiles left New York on that day for their western 
homes. Many eyes were on the pilgrim band. Among 
them were three orphan sisters, who had been 
wealthy in their native vine-clad isle. One of them 
could have remained in the city and taught music, 
had she understood the language. As she was 
playing beautifully one evening, she was asked 
where she left her piano. She said that she left it 
in her own house, with all she had in the world, 
and fled for her life. On the deck of the steamer 
stood the wanderers. It was a sublime scene. An 
eye witness says : 

"As we began to grasp the hands of those pil- 
grims, with whose trials and suff*erings we were so 
familiar, a scene of unspeakable tenderness was 
presented. Never had we seen their tears flow so 
profusely. We felt their warm grasp, but soon we 
could not utter that last word — farewell. The three 
orphan sisters wept aloud, not because they have 
not a relative on earth, but because they left those 
who were deeply interested in tbeir welfare." 

One old lady came the second time to bid fare- 
well, and as she grasped the hand of a benefactor, 
she closed her eyes and lifted her silent prayer 
to God that all human kindnesses might be re- 
warded. One hundred others followed soon after 
16* 



186 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

them. Rev. Mr. Hale, of Springfield, Illinois, 
wrote of those who arrived there as follows : 

" We are much occupied these days in minister- 
ing to our brethren, the Portuguese exiles. They 
arrived here just in time to enter on the severe win- 
ter weather, which now they, in common with all of 
us, have to endure. They are not much accustomed 
to severe cold weather ; and as our city was very 
full of people when they arrived, it was well nigh 
impossible to provide them habitations ; to provide 
comfortable dwellings was out of the question, as 
everything worthy of the name was already crowded 
full. But we have done what, under the circum- 
stances, we could, and they are hoping for better times. 
So far as I know, they are contented and happy. 
Many of them find employment, at good wages and 
ready pay. They are highly valued as labourers, 
and will soon be able to take care of themselves 
without the aid of others. Indeed, the last thing 
to be looked for is that such men should long be a 
charge to their fellow men. If they maintain their 
religious principles and their habits of industry, 
there is but one destiny for them here, and that is 
'plenty — independence.' " 

Among those who remained we may find charac- 
ters of interest. One was a venerable woman, sev- 
enty-nine years of age. Only five years before had 
she heard there was a Bible in the world. She 
made it her delight. She could say, " Thy testi- 
monies are wonderful." For her devotion to that 



A FAREWELL TO THE ISLE. 187 

book, which our Lord gave us to read, she was pub- 
licly beaten by those who professed to be the "only 
true church." She left her native vineyard with 
two less ribs than in our land we allow every Chris- 
tian to have. But such wounds only reminded her 
of her Lord's pierced hands, thorn-crowned brows, 
and bleeding side. She was happy. 

The first convert under the labours of Dr. Kalley 
was on our shores, with her husband and aged 
mother. She had aided Dr. Kalley in defending 
his house in the days of fearful riot. She drove 
the nails and fastened the bars over the windows. 
She knew something of curses, blows, and jails. 

This family had taken a wrong vessel at St. Vin- 
cent, and were landed in the cold of winter on 
Nova Scotia. The northern blasts were too severe 
for the poor exiles of a southern isle. The chill 
had wrought disease in the old lady. She was in 
consumption's fatal grasp. When in New York, 
she suddenly one day spoke cheerfully, " I am go- 
ing to my Father, I am going to my Father." 

" Shall we pray with you?" asked her friends. 

"Yes !" and then exclaimed, "My Lord is coming, 
my Lord is coming." In the moment of the prayer 
she said, " See the angels ! don't you see the 
angels?" 

In a moment her spirit was wafted gently away. 
That view of the angels ! Was it illusive ? May 
writer and reader not deny it, but wait till our ex- 
perience shall decide. Hebrews xii. 14. 



188 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

A lady, named Antonia Da Conea, had once 
gone to Dr. Kalley for medical aid. She expected 
soon to die by a fearful disease. God blessed the 
remedies of the kind physician, and she recovered. 
She had learned how to read when a child, but had 
forgotten it. 'She learned again, and obtained a 
boon which would never let her forget how to read 
again. It was the Bible. She became one of the 
most intelligent and devoted Christians in the church. 
She taught her daughters the good news, and they 
became teachers in the schools. Many of her friends 
and neighbours were persuaded by her to love the 
Lord Jesus. Her enemies saw how great her influ- 
ence was, and they said that she had an enchanted 
cup, from which if any drank they became ^' Cal- 
vinists." 

Her husband came with her to attend the class 
which Mr. Hewitson taught before leaving Madei- 
ra. He was thus well qualified to become an elder 
in the church. He owned a good home, with a 
beautiful vineyard about it. A band of ruflSans 
came to assault their house; it was Saturday night. 
Next day they were to have a quiet meeting for 
Bible-reading and prayer. Catching up a few 
articles, they fled to the mountains. God's people 
have often known what mountains are worth. It 
has been so from the days of Lot. They walked all 
night, and on Sabbath morning were upon a summit 
to greet the rising sun. Glad were they to see a 
spring, as Hagar was to see a well when her boy 



A FAREWELL TO THE ISLES, 189 

was gasping In his thirst. Here they bathed their 
bleeding feet. Was Jesus ever wounded in climbing 
the mountain sides for the nightly prayer ? Then 
they sat down on the grass, read the word of God, 
and praised Him who is the God of the mountains as 
well as of the valleys. Softly did they sing, lest even 
there might lurk an 'enemy. It was eighteen days 
before they could reach a British vessel. They 
went to Trinidad ; there the elder lost a limb and was 
more lame than halting Jacob. At New York he 
was brought near to that shore whence Da Silva 
took his joyful departure for a better world than 
this. But the Lord brought him farther on toward 
securing a home for his survivors. 

If any Howard had sought to know the condition 
of the prisons and dungeons of Madeira, he could 
have been well informed by those who knew too well. 
Even the Bomba would no longer have remained a 
mystery. Many had been there and could testify. 
Mrs. Alves was one of the welcomed. All her 
surviving children were with her. If she had any 
fears concerning those left behind, it was, lest the 
enemy might rifle the very graves. 

The reader vfill remember the young woman who, 
on the fearful night of Dr. Kalley's siege, locked 
the gate and took away the key. She was among 
the escaped. She was an orphan, without a living 
relative on the earth. Her heroic deeds are worth 
reciting. 

For several years she was an inmate of the family 



190 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

of Dr. Kalley. She became a teacher, and in the 
stormy year of 1846 her class of young ladies 
numbered thirty. She was staying with the Misses 
Rutherford when the mob committed the outrage 
upon their house. She heard the mob cutting down 
the door and breaking the windows. In a small 
room up stairs she sought refuge. The rioters 
rushed into the house. The soldiers came into her 
room and ordered her to confess and return to the 
Roman catholic church. She replied that she was 
daily in the habit of confession, but she confessed to 
God and not to man. To their threats she made 
the same reply. '' Were you not afraid at that 
hour ?'* a friend afterwards asked. ^' I believed that 
my Father would take care of me." The mob left 
the room, locked the door, leaving her in it, and 
took the key. They then seized some of the Bible- 
readers and committed the awful deeds of " outrage 
and intended murder." 

Again was this young lady called to the trial of 
her courage and faith. She was brought before the 
governor of the island. In a large parlour she 
must face the crowd of official dignitaries. A book 
was brought to her on which was the sign of the 
cross. She was requested to put her hand upon it, 
and take oath that she would never leave the Romish 
church. She refused with all the '' boldness of 
Peter and John." ''But you will surely put your 
hand on the book !" said the governor. " No ! 
never ! The Saviour says — Swear not at all ; neither 



A FAREWELL TO THE ISLES. 191 

by heaven nor by earth, neither by Jerusalem, nor 
by thy head ; it cannot be right therefore to swear 
by the sign of the cross." 

" Do you think, young woman,'' replied the gov- 
ernor, "to teach us the Bible? I know much more 
about it than you do." A statement very doubtful ! 
She was permitted to leave the room with no further 
trouble at the time. 

Two other family histories are reserved for the 
next chapter, and we close this by appending a paper 
signed by fifty-eight persons. It refutes any charge 
that these exiles were "wretched outlaws," not fit 
to live in Madeira. It had been stated in a public 
paper that some of the refugees, after having their 
way paid to New York, sought a Romish priest, 
made confession, and returned to the church that 
had robbed and driven them away. This may 
do only for those who have nothing to say but 
slander. 

" We, the undersigned, are all natives of Madeira : 
we were all born and educated in the Roman catholic 
church : we have always been in the habit of attend- 
ing mass, confession, and the various ceremonies, 
feasts, and fasts of that church. We knew of no 
other way of worship, because we had never seen 
nor read the word of God. We did not know there 
was such a book as the Bible, in which was found 
the history of Jesus Christ and of the apostles, until 
Dr. Kalley began to circulate it in Madeira. In 
reading the Bibles we received from him, we learned, 



192 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

for the first time, that we must be saved by the blood 
of Jesus, and not by penance, and mass, and purga- 
tory. We found that the Virgin and saints are not 
mediators, for there is only one Mediator between 
God and man, that is, Christ Jesus. When we 
began to rejoice in Jesus as our only Mediator, and 
to read the Bible with joy, then we w^ere forbidden, 
by the priests and the government, to read it. The 
priests began to take our Bibles, and to burn them. 
Many of the Bible-readers were thrown into prison. 
Some of us have been in prison about two years, 
and others three years. We have been driven 
from our houses and our country — have wandered 
in the mountains, and slept in caves — because we 
read the word of God, and desired to live accord- 
ing to its precepts, and for no other reason. We 
were compelled, by the priest and the government 
in Madeira, to flee away, and leave all our goods, 
and houses, and lands ; and on this account we are 
now destitute in a strange country. To the truth 
of all these things we are prepared to testify before 
all the world." {Signed.) 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 193 



CHAPTER XVI. 

TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 

On a warm day in August, 1841, three young 
men were on the way to attend the feast of the 
'^ celebrated Virgin of the Mountain." The fame 
of Dr. Kalley had reached their ears. Out of mere 
curiosity they called to see him. They were polite, 
and saluted the doctor with all respect. One of 
them, N. Vieira, told him that he wished to buy a 
Testament for his friend Henry. 

'' Who will teach Henry to read the good book?'* 
asked Dr. Kalley. 

"I will," N. Vieira replied. 

''Can you read?" 

''Yes, sir, I have read the catechism for six years 
past in a school." 

"Do you believe there is a God?" 

"Yes, sir. I do believe in God." 

" Give me some sure proof of his existence." 

"He made the ocean and the fire." 

"Do you believe you are a sinner?" 

"Yes, sir. We are all sinners." 

"How do you expect to be saved?" 
17 



194 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

^^By my good works." 

'' Good works I What good works have you done 
to satisfy the demands of God's law against your 
sins?'' 

" If I clothe and feed the poor, these good works 
will take me to heaven, after passing through the 
purifying fires of purgatory." 

''My friend, Christ came into the world to save 
you. He has given his life for you : now believe in 
Christ, read his words of advice, which are found in 
the Bible. Read in the sacred book the kind invi- 
tations of his gospel." 

" Sacred Bible ! I do not know such a book. I 
never saw one." 

"Here is one. I will make you a present of this 
holy book, if you promise to read it every day to 
your family, after the labours of the day. When 
you find any passage you cannot comprehend, write 
down all the points, and when you come to the city 
bring them to me. I shall always be happy to see 

you." 

These young men took the good book and went 
home. N. Vieira gathered his mother, and two 
brothers and two sisters in a family circle, and com- 
menced reading God's word. He began with the 
creation of the world, and continued to read about 
the wonderful works of God, until their interest was 
so great that they could not keep it to themselves : 
so they spoke to their neighbours and friends, from 
house to house, of this new and wonderful bpo]^, 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 195 

A few months passed. The new Bible-reader 
came again to Dr. Kalley, and told him these good 
tidings. The " man of God" was exceedingly glad 
to hear him speak of how he had found the Saviour 
to be his Redeemer, and how his mother and sisters 
were weeping over their sins. He invited N. Vieira 
to come and live with him, visit his schools in various 
parts of the island, and speak to teachers and 
scholars of the love of Christ. The invitation was 
laid before the family, and though they needed him 
on the farm, yet they felt that he could do more 
good in the way proposed. He gladly entered upon 
the new work. 

He was first requested to read the Bible in the 
hospital to the sick every morning. This he did, 
and was blessed in the service. In the hot season 
Dr. Kalley hired a house in the mountain district 
of St. Antonio Da Serra, near where the Vieiras 
lived. In their own house he established a school, 
and Henry was appointed the teacher. Many 
neighbours came to hear the word of God. 

One Sabbath in 1843, the Rev. Mr. Weed of the 
Scotch church was just about to administer the 
Lord's Supper. N. Vieira and a friend requested 
permission to receive the holy Communion. Dr. 
Kalley tried to dissuade them at first, lest it might 
be a rash act on their part. But they felt con- 
strained by the love of Christ, and had no fear of 
the rage of man. They were ready to die if need 
be. Their greatest anxiety was that this " father 



196 THE FXILES OF MADEIRA. 

in Christ" might not suffer on their account. They 
were examined, admitted, and seated at the Lord's 
table. 

Four days after this N. Vieira was arrested, 
brought before the Magistrates, and charged with 
having forsaken the religion of his fathers and of 
the government. Now was a time to try him, 
whether he would obey God rather than men. He 
replied to the charge that he had never received re- 
ligion from his earthly parents : that he now en- 
joyed the love of God in his heart: that this re- 
ligion came from the Bible which God gave to his 
people to read: and that he was but a follower of 
Christ the Lord. As to purgatory, it was not in 
the Bible. " The mere forms of religion," said he, 
'' have never quenched any thirst, but now I have 
found a pure fountain in God's word which satisfies 
my soul." 

"Do you believe in the crucifix, that we should 
worship the image on the cross?" asked the judge. 

" Nay. God is a Spirit, and they that worship 
him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 

'' Very well ; go in peace." 

Were they to go in peace ? A secretary of the 
government was there, who wrote down all the an- 
swers. They should hear from them again. Such 
young men of promise must be checked in their 
labours of love. 

On the next Sabbath their names were read aloud 
by the parish priests in all the churches, and their 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 197 

excommunication pronounced. People were forbid- 
den to allow them to enter their houses, trade with 
them, or even give a cup of cold water to them. "^ 

Terror could not be struck into the minds of 
other Bible-readers in this way. They saw that 
somebody was wrong. The ignorant part of the 
people were afraid of the Jesuits, for they imagined 
that the Jesuits had all power at command. But 
those who could read the Bible, read all the more, 
in order to learn who was in the right. These per- 
sons thought well of the converts, and applauded 
their firmness. Nowhere is firmness of any account 
unless it be on the side of right. Thus more and 
more Bibles were in demand. The searching for 
the '4iid treasure" was earnest and intense. These 
enemies did not understand human nature, or they 
would not have made these humble young men such 
objects of curiosity and inquiry. Take a book from 
a man by force, and you make everybody else want 
to see what that book is. Thus many were led to 
ask for the Bible; and who could give it to them? 

The priests and the officers of government were 
not satisfied with this. They imagined that by 
punishing these two young men very severely, others 
would be afraid to forsake the Romish church. So 
they one day met to lay their plans. They were so 
angry that they talked louder than they intended. 
Remember the enemies of Paul, who banded to- 
gether and took an oath not to eat or drink until they 

* See Appendix, for the pompous sentence. 
17* 



198 THE EXILES OF MjVDEIRA. 

had killed him. They talked too loud about their 
mad design. Paul's sister's son overheard the 
plans, and went into the castle where his uncle was, 
and told him that certain men had sworn that if he 
ever came near them they would kill him. 

There was a young woman, a convert, named 
Ursula, who overheard some conversation about ar- 
resting and imprisoning these two young Christians. 
She hastened to Dr. Kalley's house and told him 
that his young brethren, then in his house, were 
threatened with death. Ursula had scarcely finished 
her almost breathless story when the loud rap of 
the police was heard at the doctor's gates. The 
hunters had surrounded the innocent prey and 
thought their hands would soon be laid upon them. 
Not a moment was to be lost. Escape from the 
house was impossible. The doctor knew there was 
a niche in the wall behind his library case. So the 
case was pulled away from the wall, and the two 
friends were hid in the narrow space. The case 
was then pushed back and no eye but that of God 
could see them. The hunters rushed in, searched 
the house, even went into the rooms of the sick, but 
could not find the men they wanted. The doctor 
did not say they were not there, but helped them 
ransack the house. The police went away, hoping 
for better success some other time, and the friends 
came out of their hiding place with a song of de- 
liverance in their hearts. 

For six months these young men were hidden in 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 199 

the houses of their friends. There came a decree 
from the court of Lisbon that no one should be mo- 
lested or persecuted for religious opinions. The court 
said that men might worship God according to the 
dictates of conscience. The spider makes a beauti- 
ful web to catch his prey ; so the Romanists made 
a beautiful law, but it was only a trap to catch the 
innocent. And many were caught. No convert to 
Christianity could have his own religious opinions. 

N. Vieira returned home to gladden his mother's 
heart, and to exchange places with Henry. The 
Bible-class was entrusted to Henry. The flourish- 
ing school in Da Serra had N. Vieira at its head. 
But there was no library case to hide him nor any 
law from Lisbon which would protect him. The 
haters had their cruel way. 

The priests and the police soon saw that this family 
paid no regard to the confessional, (they went to the 
Protestant confessional — the Mercy-seat), and did 
not obey the priests of their parish, nor care for the 
Pope, nor bow to the Virgin Mary, nor have any 
idols in their house. It was resolved to put an end 
to this matter. Two officers with eighteen men 
came by night to arrest the teacher. He was roused 
from his sleep at midnight, and fled to the friendly 
shelter of the mountains. Two hundred soldiers 
were sent by the government to arrest him. For 
more than a month they hunted him, but could not 
find him. He was one of "- God's hidden ones." 
All this time he found no roof under which he could 



200 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

sleep. The caves were his refuge, the earth his bed. 
David in his exile was not more homeless. Yet 
David could sing and make Psalms even there. He 
could look up and see the hart bounding on Bether's 
hills and say, " As the hart panteth after the w^ater 
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, God.'' So 
with our heroic young sufferer. Though without a 
change of raiment and almost starved, he could re- 
joice in the Lord Jesus. 

While thus wandering on the mountains he one 
day came in sight of the large mansion where his 
mother lived. It was about five miles from the ca- 
pital. There he had played in his boyhood, and 
in the vineyard he had toiled through many a weary 
day. It was the old home. He probably intended 
in some way to gain admittance there, and relieve 
the mother who perhaps was weeping for her son. 
But what fearful view broke on his vision ? He saw 
the soldiers coming down like a wolf on the fold. 
Never did a dove look down with keener pain of 
heart on her nest just when the eagle's claws were 
going to rifle it, than he did from the mountain top. 

The soldiers arrested his mother, his sister and 
her husband, and also a woman living in the house- 
hold. One of his brothers, in delicate health, was 
compelled to eat disgusting food, with the threat of 
a severe beating. When they had secured their 
victims, they took the furniture and tore the clothes 
and bedding to pieces. Where was the husband of 
this aged woman at this hour ? Though a Romanist, 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 201 

one can hardly imagine how he could permit a scene 
like this in his own house, and with his own family. 
They led their captives away, goading the aged 
mother with a stick pointed with sharp iron. A 
bayonet would have been more refined. She was 
too feeble to march as rapidly as they wished. 
They insulted her by saying something like this : 
^' Go along, you old Protestant fool." 

Her son could see much of these cruelties, as he 
stood gazing. His soul almost sunk within him. 
What to do he knew not. What would be the fate 
of his family he dared not imagine. To rush to his 
mother would not comfort her, for she could not feel 
any happier herself by having her son as a fellow- 
suflFerer. His courage and faith were almost failing. 
Then he thought of his Bible. Into his troubled 
mind came the words, " Who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ V His mind rose with 
Paul's in saying, "I am persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate me from the love of God, which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord." He was comforted. 
Famine might come, peril might hang about his path, 
persecution might take his life ; he was ready to die 
in the love of Christ. 

Elijah found bread by the brook-side. This 
wanderer found it in the mountains. No Christian 
brought it, for no Christian knew his hiding-place. 



202 THE EXILES OF MADEIHA. 

Only one human being knew. This was a Roman 
catholic girl. She was the only Romanist known, 
by us, to have been kind to the converts. It was 
a fearful offence to ''give them fire, water, bread, 
or any comfort ; or even to " touch*' them ! Who- 
ever did this was to be publicly cursed by all the 
priests. 

This young girl was tender-hearted and pitied 
the suffering Christians. She did not dare tell any 
one that she knew where one poor Bible-reader was 
hid. Bat she took a little meal from the barrel, 
and when her mother was absent, she make a cake 
and baked it in the ashes, so that there might be 
nothing to betray her. No doubt she made it as 
large as she dared, and as good as she could. She 
sought a favourable moment, and ran into the moun- 
tains to give it to him. On this he lived four days. 
It gave him strength to wander, and watch for a 
vessel to take him away. One day he reached the 
deck of a British vessel and was safe. He first 
went to Demarara. 

Where was Ursula, who had given warning to the 
two friends at Dr. Kalley's house? She was too 
kind toward the persecuted to be safe. The spies 
saw what she did. Her kindness betrayed her. 
She was called a ''convert," and so she became. 
She chose affliction with the people of God, and 
leaving a once happy home she fled for her life. She 
reached St. Vincent, and there in a quiet grave her 
body was laid to sleep till the resurrection. 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 203 

The family who had been taken from the man- 
sion, when N. Vieira looked down upon the outrage, 
with about twenty others, were put on board a Por- 
tuguese frigate, the largest one in the Portuguese 
navy. They were told that they were all to be 
taken to Lisbon, and there tried for heresy. But 
they were deceived. In a few days they were shut 
up in the dungeon at Funchal, where they were 
closely kept for nearly two years. 

Nor would the government give them bread or 
water. They must die if no hand of charity would 
provide relief. Foreign residents sent them their 
daily food. Their enemies did nothing to prevent 
starvation ; and had they starved, their persecutors 
would not have been more guilty. 

The time of their release came at last. The bars 
of their prison were drawn back very slowly, and 
they were told that if they would for ever leave their 
native island, they might go wherever the ships 
would carry them. They left all for the gospel's 
sake. 

One day in these stormy times, a ship touched at 
Demarara. N. Vieira went to the wharf to see 
who might be on board from his home. Often had 
he wished to learn the fate of his mother, brothers, 
sisters, and friends. To his utter surprise, they 
were on the ship. The joy of such a re -union 
seemed almost to repay them for the sorrows they 
had all endured. Earth has few such meetings. 
Heaven will have many even more joyful. 



204 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

They all remained in Demarara some months, 
"where they suifered from the fevers of the place. 
They then sailed for Trinidad. Some of them came 
afterward to this country. 

The aged mother remained in Trinidad. She 
had once lived in a large mansion, about five miles 
from the chief city. Her house had been filled 
with luxuries, and many servants came and went at 
her bidding. But her exile-home was far different. 
She lived in a small room, ten or twelve feet square, 
glad to have the plainest diet for her daily bread. 
She had left her husband, a Romanist. Nothing 
had he done for her while in prison, nor for any of 
his children. He probably is yet living upon the 
estate. This Christian woman said that her little 
home among strangers was the happiest she ever had 
known, and the days of her exile were brighter 
than all those past in the mansion. Christ was her 
riches and her comforter. 

The other family sketch is brief. 

In the family of Vasconcellas, there were four 
brothers, who were farmers. One of them, Joseph, 
was about thirty years old when the persecutions 
Ibegan. He saw how others were cruelly treated, 
and asked the reason. He learned that they were 
Bible-readers. He found out for the first time that 
there was a book called the word of God. He ob- 
tained one, read it with intense delight, and went 
to hear Dr. Kalley preach. Then he attended the 
meetings for prayer and inquiry. For some time 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 205 

he dreaded the Jesuits and the priests. Many 
others at this time trembled under their threats, 
and their attempts to excite the people to violence. 

But as he read the words of Jesus he was made 
bold, for he said, " Fear not them that kill the 
body.'' With these words stamped in memory, he 
became very decided. He ceased to attend the 
Romish church. With mass, confession, and saint- 
worship, he had nothing more to do He began the 
duties of a true Christian life. He became " strong 
in the gospel." Without disguise he met with the 
Protestants, and cared little if the police did see him. 

They lived some distance away from the capital. 
One morning before the sun rose, an armed police 
was attacking the house. They chose the dark- 
ness ; so did Judas. With horrid yells they were 
asked to open the doors, which they did. The four 
brothers and their aged father were bound with 
thongs, shamefully treated, and hurried away to a 
jail, which, of course, would not be far off in such 
a country. 

The mother and sisters fled, while the father was 
parleying with the soldiers at the house. The old 
man was afterwards released, and sent back home, 
being told that he was too infirm to be shut up in 
prison, and as four of his sons were captured, the 
police would be satisfied. 

The church and jail of the neighbourhood were 
near together — very wisely. Into the jail twenty 
persons were cast. There they remained three days 
18 " 



206 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

"with nothing to eat or drink. They were then put 
on board a Portuguese ship, and told that they 
should be taken to Lisbon for their trial. Here, 
we suppose, they met the Vieira family, and were 
deceived like them, and lodged in the prison at 
Funchal. 

During their imprisonment there was less favour 
shown to some prisoners than to others — if indeed 
a milder cruelty can ever be a favour ! One of 
these brothers, Joseph Da Vasconcellas, had all along 
been the object of special malice. He had been 
more active in teaching the gospel, and had the 
greater influence. Hence he was treated with 
severer barbarity. 

The mass was introduced into the prison, and the 
inmates were required to express their adoration ; a 
thing unknown there for generations. A little 
image upon a cross was to be brought in. Joseph 
was compelled to go with the priests to bring it. 
They came to the church, took it from the altar, 
and carelessly threw it into the basket which Joseph 
carried. There it was, '^ upside down,'* and he was 
blamed severely for having it thus carried. He 
once would have shuddered at such a thought, and 
even now would not have done such a deed. If the 
priests had possessed any of their pretended rever- 
ence, they would have never thus turned over the im- 
age, much less play the false part they did. If they 
did not reverence the image, why ask him to do it ? 

When the mass was celebrated, the prisoners all 



TWO HOUSEHOLD BANDS. 207 

refused to witness the ceremony. They were forced 
to be present. Some of the more feeble were so 
cruelly forced, as to bow against their will — a bow 
obtained by breaking them down. Joseph stood 
strong and firm. He was then struck terrible blows, 
but persisted in refusing the idolatry. No name of 
vile reproach was too bad for them to employ against 
him. And this at their own mass ! ! 

For refusing to confess to a priest, who showed 
that he was anything but a ''vicar of Christ," he 
was manacled till his hands were blood-shot, and 
then cast into the horrid Bomba, where the wonder 
is he did not die in agony. 

When two years had passed in prison, the Vas- 
concellas were released. They returned home only 
to be driven poor and unpitied to Trinidad. There 
the aged parents were buried, and one of the sons 
beside them. The surviving three came to this 
country. They all said that through their various 
trials the Lord had never forsaken them. Joseph, 
if living, bears still in his body the signs of the 
abuse cruelly inflicted upon him for refusing to wor- 
ship the wafer, and bow to the image, with which 
Christ is mocked and put to shame. 



208 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A PASTOR FOR THE FLOCK. 

Mr. Hewitson was not one who would put his 
light under a bushel. It was put on a candlestick 
on ship-board as he returned from the West Indies 
in 1847. "I never had a voyage like this," said 
the captain. So all the company felt. ^'Not a 
Jonah had been on board, fleeing from the presence 
of the Lord, but a Caleb, walking in the light of 
God's countenance." Daily his voice was heard 
in prayer and preaching in the ship. One sailor 
felt the new kindling of love in his soul. '' I am 
not in want of a closet to pray in," said this sun- 
brown tar ; " I can just cover my face with my hat 
here at the helm, and I am as much alone with God 
as in a closet." 

Hewitson went home, to be ''a bright and shining 
light" in Scotland. He was settled in Dirleton, 
where he died in August, 1850. He " turned many 
to righteousness." While failing day by day he 
could remark pleasantly : '^ The Lord has his own 
way of dealing with his servants. He is pleased to 
make one like a bowl of living water, which shall 



A PASTOR FOR THE FLOCK. 209 

be handed round to refresh many souls. And he 
takes the same bowl, empties it, turns it upside 
down, and puts it on the shelf, saying, ' I have no 
more need of thee !' " 

As he laid him down to preach no more, he was 
comforted with the "tenderness of Christ." ''I 
have seen further down of late, into the depths of 
his amazing love than ever I saw before." Not 
without a tear did he dictate of his field of labour ; 

'^ No more I reap that harvest field ; 
Its sheaves to others may it yield : 
My call to hasten home is sealed ; 
God's will be done." 

There were many links to connect him still with 
the Portuguese exiles. In his labours and his sick- 
ness he often spoke of them. And they remem- 
bered him. Here is a link worthy of note. Open- 
ing a letter from New York he read thus : 

" The Portuguese here are a very devoted band 
of pilgrims. They love one another. They search 
the Bible with great diligence. They enjoy a 
blessed prayer-meeting morning and evening. . . . 
Seldom is a prayer ofi*ered at the throne of grace, 
from any one of the flock, that I do not hear your 
name, that of Dr. Kalley, and the Free Church of 
Scotland. . . . Can you, my dear brother, come to 
Illinois next fall, and take charge of this interest- 
ing, precious flock ? I know they all love you as 
they love their own souls.'' 

These people would have stood on their feet and 
18* 



210 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

held up both hands, if that could have made this 
link of love a bond between pastor and flock. But 
he was not to come to our land. He was to hold 
forth the word of life a little while and then die, 
leaving those death-bed words to ring through the 
world, " I am better acqainted with Jesus than with 
any friend I have on earth." 

That star which had risen over the moors of 
Scotland, and hovered a while over the isles of the 
sea, ever moving on to where Christ was, seemed to 
go down in the cold north : but no ! God took it 
and set it in the firmament of his glory. It had 
turned many to righteousness, and was placed on 
high to shine, a star for ever and ever. 

Hewitson was a minister in a far higher sense 
than even his childish ambition involved. He was 
also a king — a king in glory ! for there such humble 
souls are "made kings and priests unto God.'' 

The Lord of the vineyard raised up a pastor for 
the exiles in their new western home. We would 
be happy to present a brief account of his life ; 
how he became a Bible-reader in Madeira ; how he 
left friends and his father's house for the sake of 
Christ ; how he fled from his native island, and how 
he became a minister of the gospel. But he does 
not wish any account of himself to be given, for he 
wishes Christ to have all the glory, and all our at- 
tention. We shall therefore only mention some 
facts which have already been published. 
. Mr. Antonio De Mattos was one of the converts 



A PASTOR FOR THE FLOCK. 211 

at Madeira. He fled to Scotland in 1846, where 
he became qualified for preaching the gospel. He 
was ordained to come to this country and take the 
place of Mr. Da Silva, as the pastor of the scat- 
tered flock. 

He paid a short visit to his father's family in 
Madeira. He saw forty of the converts in the 
chief city. He met them one by one, conversed 
and prayed with them, for it was not thought pru- 
dent to hold public meetings. It was a most joyful 
and refreshing visit to these young disciples. He 
remained under the paternal roof until a notice was 
posted on the door, that he must leave the island or 
suffer death. 

He then visited Trinidad on his way to this coun- 
try. There he found more than four hundred ex- 
iles, many of whom had come from other shores to 
enjoy the protection off'ered them by the British gov- 
ernment. Mr. De Mattos has been for several 
years the pastor of the Portuguese Presbyterian 
churches in Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois. 
In a beautiful letter now before us, he speaks of 
their prosperity, their trials and temptations. There 
are about one thousand Portuguese exiles in the two 
places where he preaches. 

The severe laws in Madeira will not allow any 
one to go as Mr. Hewitson went, and labour among 
the people. Yet there have been for several years 
many Bible-readers there. Sometimes as many as 



212 THE EXILES OF MADEIRA. 

one hundred have been reported. They would 
meet together in little companies, as quietly as pos- 
sible, for prayer in the night ; and often under the 
vines their low tones of prayer would find an utter- 
ance which no enemy could hear, but which did not 
fail to reach the ever-listening ear of Him who never 
slumbers. 

Those Bibles and Testaments which the exiles 
buried in the earth, or plastered in the walls of 
their houses, were not hidden in vain. Many were 
afterwards found, and many no doubt will yet be 
brought to light. The good seed thus buried, will 
one day bring a good harvest for the Master. 

Our little volume now closes. As the reader 
shuts it up, we hope that Holy Book which did 
such wonders in Madeira, will be opened, and dili- 
gently read. An open Bible, a well-read Bible, a 
Bible believed and obeyed, is the only book that 
can teach us the way of salvation. Persecutors 
will probably never dare to take it from us. But 
we may keep it from ourselves. We may cheat 
ourselves of its great truths. We may neglect the 
word of God, and be ignorant of the love of Jesus 
Christ. 

We often hear thanks rendered to God that " we 
may sit under our own vine and fig-tree, with none 
to molest or make us afraid." Truly this is a 
great privilege. Let us read the Bible under the 
summer shade, or by the winter fire, and pray to 



A PASTOR FOR THE FLOCK. 



213 



the Lord with earnest hearts, " Open thou mine 
eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy 
law." 

Holy Bible ! Book Divine ! 
Precious treasure, thoa art mine I 




APPENDIX 



Dr. Kalley refers particularly to the sentence 
of excommunication pronounced against two of the 
converts. To gratify the interest, or curiosity of 
the reader, we here spread out before him, this 
pompous and unjust sentence as it was originally 
uttered : — 

** Sebastiao Cazemiro Medinna Vasconcellos, Leader 
of the Choir in the Cathedral, Synodic Examina- 
tor, Vicar-General of the Bishopric of Funchal, in 
the island of Madeira, for the Most Excellent and 
Reverend Don Januaro Vicente Comacho of her 
Majesty's Council, Dean of the Cathedral of Fun- 
chal, Commander of the Order of Christ, Bishop 
Elect of Castle Branco, Temporal Governor and 
Vicar-General of the Bishop of Funchal, Porto 
Santo and Arguinot — 

'' To all the reverend vicars and curates, assistants 
and chaplains, as well as to all judges and justices 
of peace, to the delegates of the attorney-general, to 
the administrators of councils, and all officers of 
justice, and to all ecclesiastical and secular persons 
(214) 



APPENDIX. 215 

of every degree and condition in all the bishopric 
and out of it, whom this my letter may reach, who 
may hear it, or get notice of it any way, health 
and peace for ever in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is 
the true remedy and salvation of all. I make known 
to you, that, having proceeded to an examination of 
witnesses, as competent to my office, it was proved 
by them, and confirmed by my sentence, that Fran- 
cisco Pires Soares, married, and Nicolao Tolentino 
Vieira, bachelor, both of this bishopric, residing in 
the parish of Santa Luzia, near the parish church, 
apostatized from the union and bosom of the Holy 
Mother Roman Catholic Church, and became sec- 
taries of the Presbyterian communion, incurring 
by this, ecclesiastical censure and canonical punish- 
ment of the greater excommunication. The censures 
requiring to be aggravated, I ordered this present 
letter to be written, by which I require and command, 
under pain of the greater excommunication, all ec- 
clesiastics, ministers and officers of justice, and 
others above mentioned, as soon as they shall have 
notice of it, not to touch or hold communication' with 
those who are excommunicated by the curse of 
Almighty God, and of the blessed St. Peter and St. 
Paul, with these of Gomorrah andof Sodom, Dathan 
and Abiram, whom the earth swallowed alive for 
their great sins and disobedience. Let none give 
them fire, water, bread, or any other thing that may 
be necessary to them for their support. Let none 
pay them their debts. Let none support them in 



216 APPENDIX. 

any case which they may bring judicially. Let all 
put them aside as rotten and excommunicated mem- 
bers, separated from the bosom and union of the 
Holy Mother Catholic Church, and as rebels and 
contumacious ; for if any do the contrary, which 
God forbid, I lay, and consider as laid, upon their 
persons, the penalty of the greater excommunication. 
Therefore were their names and surnames expressly 
declared ; and that all may know this, I order the 
reverend parish priest to publish this at the meeting 
on the first Sabbath or holy day, and to aflix it on 
the door of the church, from which let no man take 
or tear it under pain of excommunication, until, by 
making satisfaction for all, they merit the benefit 
of absolution. 

Given in Funchal, under the seal of the vicar- 
general and my signature, on the 27th of April, 
1843. Jacinto Monteiro Cabrse, Writer to the Ec- 
clesiastical Council, wrote this. 

Sebastiao Cazemiro Medinna e Vas. 






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Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

(724) 779-21 1 T 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 728 892 A 



